Change of Destinies, Again
by btvscharmedgirl
Summary: Post season 7 of Buffy and season 8 of Charmed. does not follow comics. The Scooby gang moves to SF because of Willow. f/f parings
1. The elders visit

Top of Form

**The Elders Visit**

The Elders Visit  
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, Buffy, or any of the characters in the shows.

AN/ this is my first fanfiction so please tell me what you think.

It had been a long couple of months for the sisters. What with loved ones being frozen and unfrozen, only to be taken away again. Then given back, again. New charges, turned friend, turned into their toughest battle yet. Only to have her help save the day in the end. For two sisters finding love right in the middle of it all. To say they had a long couple of months would be putting it mildly. But that was all over now. Or at least they hope it is.

It had been two days since the final battle had taken place and Piper had made a spectacular lunch to celebrate the end of their demon fighting days, and them all making it through. Leo was sitting at the head of the table with Wyatt then Chris to his right and Piper to his left. Paige was sitting next to Chris helping hi eat his food. Paige's husband Henry was next to her. Phoebe was next to Piper and with her boyfriend Coop next to her. At the Foot of the table sat victor.

Billie had left to try and deal with killing her sister in self-defense. As well to try and find herself again. Before she left she told the sisters she would come back and try to make amends for her betrayal.

The conversation had turned to the future when they heard jingles and saw swirling blue lights signaling the arrival of a white-lighter. When the orbs stop a woman who looked to be in her forties with shoulder length light brown hair stood near Victor.

"Hello, my name is Tammy," the white-lighter said in a kind voice.

Piper was the first to respond to the intruder, "Yea, hi. What the hell do you want?"

"Piper, she's an elder," scolded her youngest sister.

"So that doesn't mean a damn thing to me. Not after all they put me and Leo through," Piper replied angrily.

Paige was about to say something when Tammy put her hand up to stop her. "It's alright Paige. I was well aware that my coming here might not be received well, but if you'll give me the time, you'll only be slightly irritated with me," she said with a smirk.

"Piper let's hear what they to say," said Leo.

"Leo…"she began but was interrupted.

"Piper, Leo's right. Let's hear what she has to say. The Elders have already started to make amends for what they did in the past. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have Coop," Phoebe spoke up this time looking at Coop with a smile on her face.

"Fine, but if you piss me off I'm basting your ass back to where you came from," Piper said pointing her finger at the Elder.

"All I ask for is your time," Tammy began calmly. "As you know your last battle was your final battle as just the Charmed Ones. You fought…"

"Wait, what do you mean as JUST the Charmed Ones?" Phoebe interrupted her.

"It means we're not done like they said we would be," Piper said her voice clearly saying I told you so.

"Sort of," Replied the Elder.

"What do you mean sort of?" Asked Paige.

"Girls, why don't we let you Tammy talk? Asked Leo softly.

"Fine" the sisters replied grumpily.

"You have completed your charmed destiny. From now on you will only be facing low level demons every once and a while, however you will be assisting a group who call themselves the Scoobies with their kind on demons," the elder said smirking again.

"Scoobies, what kind of a name is the Scoobies," Phoebe asked rhetorically.

"You'll find out by week's end," Answered the elder. Piper made an annoyed sound, and mumbled 'stupid elders'.

"Is that all you had to tell them?" Henry asked speaking up for the first time.

"No" Tammy said with a smirk that seemed permanently fixed on her face. "You are receiving a reward for your services." She stopped talking knowing that she was going to be interrupted again, and sure enough Phoebe asked enthusiastically, "What reward?"

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise. All I can say is that your reward will be here by week's end, and it is all legit," the elder stated.

Paige was the first to respond, is that all?"

"No it's not. A new whitelighter is being assigned to the next generation. You also might want to make room here. You're going to need it. That is all I can say for now, but I promise all will be explained with time. I must be going. Oh, and you might want to turn the TV on. Goodbye." She said then disappeared.

It was quiet for only a minute before all three sisters started talking at once. 'Piper was saying about stupid elders and cryptic messages.' 'Phoebe was wondering aloud about the reward they were going to be receiving and why they would need more room.' While Paige was grumbling about a new whitelighter taking over her territory. None of the men however could follow what they were saying, so Coop whistled to get their attention. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige looked around the table wearing matching looks on their faces. Mumbling sorry to them.

"That's alright girls. How bought we put the boys down for their naps before we continue?" He put out there looking at the boys who had sat through the elder's visit quietly eating. "Hey buddies, are you done eating?"

"Yes Daddy." Both boys replied.

"Good job. Are you ready for your nap?" he asked them.

"NO!" Chris responded with fierceness. Wyatt however looked around the table at everyone before say, "No, I want to stay and find out what's going on."

"Aw, buddy what if we promise to let you know what's going on after your nap?" Asked Piper. Wyatt seemed satisfied with this. He grabbed his little brother's hand, said goodnight, and orbed out.

"I'll go make sure they're in bed," Henry said as he got up from the table. Piper yelled thank you as he went up the stairs.

"Did any of that make any sense to you?" Asked Victor speaking for the first time since Tammy showed up.

"No daddy, but I think we should turn the TV on," Phoebe said. They all moved into the living room. Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Coop squeezed onto the couch, while Paige and Victor sat in the arm chairs across from them. Leo reached for the remote that was on the coffee table. As soon as he turned it on they saw what looked like an over view of a giant hole, and the caption at the bottom of the screen saying 'Earthquake destroys entire town of Sunnydale Ca.

"That's were a hellmouth is located," Leo said jumping up from his spot on the couch. "This is not good. We need to find out what happened."

"No, I don't think we have to. Tammy said that those Scoobies were going to be coming. This happening on the same day an elder coming to give us the heads up on their arrival is not a coincidence. I think we'll find out when they get here," Coop finished, looking at the girls for their approval.

"I agree with Coop. Let's wait to see how this plays out before we go looking for trouble," Piper said as she pulls her husband back down on the couch next to her.

"Um, Leo," Phoebe began hesitantly not wanting to make Leo hyper again knowing how he gets. "What is a hellmouth and why are you freaking out?"

"A hellmouth is a location of mystical energy. It is exactly how it sounds a mouth of hell. When a hellmouth is opened it releases very old demons. Unleashing hell on earth. These demons are nothing like the ones you have faced. I'm not even sure if your powers would work on them. No Halliwell has ever faced one before. Demons and warlocks that you have faced are drawn to you powers," Leo said, much to Phoebe's delight, calmly.

"So what you're saying is the demons we fight are not the same type of demons the Scoobies fight," asked Paige. Leo nodded. "Oh, so that's what she meant when she said their demons," She said more to herself then the group.

"Leo," Piper began. "We've been doing this for eight years now, and we're just now learning about this, why?"

"The two worlds don't cross that often. If the elder's are putting us on this path then I think two are going to start to intertwine." Leo said matter-of-factly to his wife.

Paige snorted, "Next you're going to tell us Harry Potter and his world are real to," she sarcastically. Leo gave her an 'I'm not touching that one' look, which Phoebe took as conformation.

"HE'S REAL! All those mentions of Harry Potter over the years and you're JUST now telling us he's real!" Leo just shrugged his shoulders at her. "And why am I even surprised. Of course he's real. Why wouldn't he be real? Are anything in our lives going to be normal?" She babbled to herself.

Henry walked into the room sitting on the arm of Paige's chair. "The boys are out. So what'd I miss?" He asked.

"An earthquake destroyed Sunnydale. Which is a hellmouth." Said Piper.

"There are demons out there that we have never faced." Said Paige.

"Harry Potter's real." Said Phoebe.

Henry just looked confused but already used to this he just "OK." Making a mental note to ask Paige later. They sat in silence for a few minutes going over everything in their heads before the silence was broken.

"Your lives are complicated." Said Victor speaking up for the first since moving to the living room.

"Yup, I'm going to clean up from lunch," said Piper

"Ok, we'll help." Said Phoebe getting up from her spot motioning for Paige to follow.


	2. A Scooby Meeting

Chapter 2

**Scooby Meeting**

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, Buffy, Angel, or any of their characters.

AN/ Cordelia Recovered but does not remember anything that happened in season is unbated. Sorry. Let me know if you see any mistake that I missed. I'll go back and correct them.

Chapter 2: Scooby Meeting

It was almost night fall, the day after the fall of Sunnydale. The Scoobies, newly created slayers, Angel and Cordelia were sitting in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel waiting for Giles to return from the hospital with Robin. Andrew had gone out earlier in the day and had yet to return, and Faith was in the garden smoking as she had not been allowed to go with Giles to retrieve Robin due the warrant still out for her arrest. Out of Thirty-some potentials only thirteen had survived the fight, and Robin was the only one who had to stay overnight at the hospital. Now they were all waiting to discuss where they were going to go now.

The baby slayers were starting to get restless, and Buffy was thinking about taking them out slaying when the lobby doors opened up to reveal a tired looking Giles and Faith who was supporting Robin. The two of them walked over to one of the couches and shooed away a couple of girls so they could sit.

Giles walked to the middle of the group. He looked around to see if everyone was present. "Andrew has not returned, I take it." See a few heads shaking he began. "Very well we'll have to fill him in when he decides to return." He paused, looking around at the new slayers, then to Faith, before laying his eyes on Buffy. He gave her a smile, before turning his attention back to the group. "In the past there has only been one slayer at a time. She secluded herself from her family and she didn't have any friends. She slayed every night and she died young. Until Buffy came along this was how it was. The old council thought of the slayer as a tool, instead of a young girl. That is NOT how it is going to be from now on. You have a choice to make. You may remain with us, to help us rebuild the council, slay, and help train new slayer that we locate. Or you can return to your families. You slay only if you choose to. The only thing I ask is that if you choose to return home you keep in contact with us. Think it over, and let me know by noon tomorrow what you choose." Giles finish his speech, and then looked at Angel. "Is Mr. Gunn here yet?"

"No, he called and said he'd be a little late. He should be here any second though." Angel replied, and sure enough a second later Gunn walked in looking ready for a fight.

"Sorry, I'm late. There was a problem in my department that couldn't wait." Gunn said.

"That is quite alright, Mr. Gunn. Girls, this is Charles Gunn. He is going to be taking you out slaying," he said, then chuckled as all the slayers except Faith, Buffy, and Kennedy got up and ran to the weapons cabinets Angel had showed them earlier in the day.

Willow looked at Kennedy, who looked unsure about going. "Are you going to go with them?" Willow asked her. Kennedy just shrugged her shoulders. "I think you should go. We'll talk later ok."

"Yeah, ok," She mumbled. She gave Willow a kiss on her lips and then went to join the girls and Gunn.

Once they had left, and Buffy was sure they were a safe distance away she turned to Willow and asked, "What's up with Kennedy?"

"I'm not really sure. She was talking to someone earlier and has been distance since she got off the phone." Willow replied sounding a little sad.

"Is everything going to be ok with the two of you?" Xander asked.

"I don't know," she said with a sigh. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"So G-man, where are we going to go?" Xander asked.

Ignoring Xander's nickname he answered, "I'm not sure. We need to reestablish the council, and I was thinking that we should start a school for the slayers and new watchers."

"That sounds good, but where?" Dawn asked looking at Giles, who just looked around at everybody else with a questioning look.

"San Francisco," Willow said in a small voice. Eight heads turned toward her, with confused looks on their faces. None of them were expecting Willow to want to stay in California after all that had happened in the last year. Willow looked up with a guilty look on her face.

"Willow, why do you want to go to San Francisco?" Buffy asked noticing the look. "I thought you of all of us would want to get out of California."

"Because," she began starting to fidget, and looking at her hands that are lying on her lap. "That's where my birth mother lives." Buffy and Xander's mouths dropped open. Neither one of them could believe that their best friend had kept this kind of a secret from them.

"Well that explains a lot about your parents," Cordelia said. Willow's head snapped up looking at her, not quite believing the sad tone in her voice. It's not like they had every really been friends. The Cordelia the Scoobies knew would have said some snobby comment. This was new territory for all of them.

"Willow," Buffy said, snapping her out of the shock she was in. "Will, how long have you known?"

"Since right before Kendra came to Sunnydale. I was going through my dad's desk looking for my birth certificate, when I came across the adoption papers. So I hacked into the agency and found my mom's name. Then I looked her up and found where she lives. She lives at 1329 Prescott Street with her younger sisters Piper and Phoebe." She was going to go on, but Giles made a gasping noise, which he tried to cover up with a cough. "Giles, do you know my family?" she asked him.

"No my dear, I do not," he said in all sincerely.

"But you do know something, don't you, Giles," said Buffy.

"I'm sorry but she must find out about her family for herself," he replied'

"Giles," Willow whined. "Please just tell me."

"I'm sorry, but no. This is something you have to find out on your own." He said.

"Fine," Willow pouted.

"Willow, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell ME? All those time we joked about being adopted and you were." Xander said hurt.

"I didn't want you to be jealous, Xan, and I didn't want anyone to feel bad for me," She told them looking at Xander than Buffy.

"Will. You shouldn't have kept it a secret just for us. We're friends. We could have helped you," Buffy said angrily.

"Yeah, like you haven't kept secrets from us, Buffy," Willow shot back.

"Stop it. This is not the time to be fucking fighting," Xander yelled.

"No, she's right. We've all been keeping secrets for years, and it's been pushing us away from each other for years. So no more secrets from now on," Buffy said in her take charge voice.

"Finally they figure it out," said Cordelia. "What it's true," she said when Buffy sent her a death glare.

"Ok, no more secrets, starting now," Willow said. "Xan, any you want to share?" Willow said with an evil smile.

"Um, ok, if it'll help our friendship. I remember everything that happened when I was possessed by the hyenas," He said, and then winced knowing Buffy was going to blow.

And sure enough, Buffy jumped up from the couch, "WHAT!" She paused. "So you remember trying to… ya know…?" Xander nodded his head yes looking really guilty.

"What, what did he try to do?" Dawn asked not getting what everybody else already knew.

"Nothing Dawnie," Buffy said hoping she'd let it go.

"No, you said no more secrets. So spill."

"She means that Xander tried to have sex with her when he was possessed by the hyenas," Cordelia said, (having heard the story from Xander while they were dating) saving Buffy and Xander from having to tell her. Dawn sat there with her mouth wide open, while Buffy sat back down and put her head in her hands.

After a moment Buffy sat back up and looked at Dawn. "Ok Dawn. No more secrets, so spill. What have you been hiding from us?" Dawn was now wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

"Fine," She huffed. "I'm gay. I used to steel Willow and Tara's lesbian books and toys when they weren't around. I'm not a virgin, and I'm a slayer," she said so fast that it was a minute before anybody understood what she said.

"What," came three voices at once, followed by three questions in a row.

"You're a slayer?" asked Giles.

"You're not a virgin?" asked Buffy.

"You stole mine and Tara's toys?" asked Willow.

"Toys. Kinky Red," said Faith with a sly grin on her face, making the redhead blush as bright as her hair.

"Back to the not a virgin part please," insisted Buffy.

"I had sex with Kit," Dawn said. Willow cut in before Buffy could yell at her.

"Dawn when you say toys, which ones do you mean?"

"All of them," she said quietly as she started to blush.

"And you used them?" Willow asked barely above a whisper. Dawn didn't need to say a thing because she had turned bright red.

"Giles," Faith yelled suddenly. "Stop cleaning your glasses, ya prude. You're gonna' break em." Giles blushed and put them back on his face. Then looked at Dawn, but before he could say anything though Xander started talking.

"Exactly what kind of toys Willow?" he asked and immediately received a smack to the back of his head by Cordelia. "God you're such a guy," she commented.

"Hey, I was just curious. No need to hit the half blind man," he said. Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Dawn what do you mean you're a slayer?" Giles asked quickly.

Willow and Buffy looked at Dawn surprised, as neither one of them caught that part of her confession.

"No you didn't. I would know if you were," Buffy said, and then looked at willow and Faith for back-up. Willow had her eyes closed in concentration and Faith was looking at Dawn intensely.

"Yes, she is," Both said at the same time.

"No, she's not, she can't be. NO," Buffy said almost stomping her foot.

"Buffy, I can feel her. There are three slayers in this room. You, Faith, and Dawn." Willow said.

"Yeah, B. I can feel her too. Listen to your radar."

Buffy sat there for a minute sensing what was around her. She sensed two slayers, three humans, Willow (who always radiated power,) and two demons. This last part baffled her. She looked at Cordelia with her head cocked to the right she said distractedly, "You're not allowed to slay in less one of us is with you." Then with confusion clear in her voice she asked, "Cordy, when did you become a demon?"

"Half-demon. I'm only half. And about a year and a half ago. My visions were killing me, so a demon named Skip offered to alter my past so I would never had gotten them, or make me half-demon. I chose the latter," she said while picking at her cuticles.

"Wow, Xander really is a demon magnet," Dawn said with a chuckle.

"Hey," he said insulted before shrugging. "OK, so what I'm not getting is how Dawn got the power. I mean Willow did that spell to lead us to the potential in Sunnydale and it turned out that it was Amanda."

"I think that spell did work the way it was suppose to. We only realized that it was Amanda after the bringers attacked. Maybe, because of whom Dawn is it hid her from them. It does make sense though, I mean she was made from Buffy after all," Willow said.

"Ok, that makes a little sense," Dawn said before turning to her sister. "So Buffy, what secrets have you been hiding?" she asked eager for some payback.

"I had sex with Faith," She said calmly, looking at Faith to gage her reaction. What she got however was not what she was expecting.

"B," she shrieked, jumping up from the couch. Seven heads (including Cordelia's, who had stopped playing with cuticles) turned from Buffy to Faith. All of them shocked that Faith had made such a girly sound. "We did not have sex. You take that back," she squeaked out. Buffy looked at Faith for a second before busting out laughing. Every head turned back to Buffy and stared at her as if she was crazy. Faith flopped back down on the couch next to Robin forgetting about his injury until she heard him hiss. "Sorry baby forgot. Ya ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Robin said looking at the still laughing Buffy than back to Faith. "So you never had sex with her?"

"No," she hissed at him, and then gave Buffy a death glare sobering her up a little.

"Ah, come on Faithy. You got to admit it was a little funny," she said.

"No, It ain't," she said grumpily.

"Faith, for real now. I don't have any secrets to share. Everybody already knows mine. So it's your turn. What have you been hiding from us?" asked Buffy.

"Not a damn thing," she replied grumpily.

"Come on Faith, you're part of this group too," Willow said.

"Alright, I think that enough secret sharing for now. You can resume this conversation after we get settled in," Giles interrupted before Faith could say anything else. "Now when should we head up to San Francisco?"

"I want to go meet my mom on Friday, so can we leave tomorrow?" Asked Willow.

"Why so soon Willow?" asked Giles.

"Friday's my birthday," she said.

"Oh, alright then. We'll leave tomorrow," he said to Willow, then turned to Faith. "Faith, are you planning on turning yourself in to the police?" he asked hesitantly.

"NO," came out suddenly, but it wasn't Faith who said it. Eight heads turned toward the redhead. "She is not going back there," she said slowly, looking around at the group so they could see her famous resolve face.

"Damn Red, you're just full of surprises today," Faith said trying to cover up the emotions that were threatening to come out.

"Willow," Buffy started hesitantly.

"No Buffy. She IS NOT going back. She doesn't deserve to be there anymore," Willow interrupted.

"Red, it's where I belong. I don't want to go back, but it's WHERE I BELONG," Faith said.

"No Faith. You're good now. You've proven that you're good. You stayed in jail for three years when you could have gotten out at any time. You escaped to help Angel, and you came to Sunnydale even after everything that happened to help. If anyone should be in jail it's me," Willow said in one breath.

"Damn it Red, you were fuckin' juiced up on magic when you did that. You had no control over what you were doing," said Faith.

"I knew what I was doing was wrong," she said starting to cry. "I let the magic take over so that I could avenge Tara's death. I took pleasure in killing Warren and Rack. I almost killed Dawnie, Buffy, and Giles. Not to mention trying to destroy the world. And what did I get. Magical detox in England. While you…" Willow was cut off by the sound of a door banging open. Looking up she saw Kennedy running out into the garden. She wasn't sure how long Kennedy had been standing there, but she was sure that Kennedy running out like that was not good.

"Kennedy, wait," she yelled chasing after her. She runs out into the garden hoping to catch her before she could go very far. She paused for a second to look around. Kennedy was standing over by the gate facing the street. She walked slowly over to her. Willow put her hand on Kennedy's shoulder, and turned her around. Kennedy was crying.

"Kennedy, what's wrong?" Willow asked, but Kennedy didn't respond at first.

"You're never going to love me like you love her, are you?" she asked Willow in a small voice. Willow didn't know how to respond to this question.

"It's ok, Willow. She was your soul mate. I get that. I just hoped that you could let go enough to love me too, but you don't." She paused. Tears were running down Kennedy's face. Willow started crying again. "I love you, Willow, but I know this isn't going to work. So I'll make it easier on both of us." She paused again. "I talked to my Dad today. He wants me to come home, so I am.  
Without you." She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. She opened it up and handed one of the tickets to Willow. "I wasn't sure if I was going to invite you, so I got you one just in case. I love you, Willow," she said then leaned forward and gave willow a lingering kiss on her lips. "I leave in the morning, so I'll stay with Vi tonight. Goodbye." She said as she started to go inside.

"Wait, don't I get a say in this?" she asked.

"No, this is for the best." She went inside leaving Willow crying where she stood. She moved to sit on the garden wall. Willow wasn't sure how long she sat there, but she was so lost in thoughts that when Buffy and Xander sat down next to her she jumped. Neither one said a word just wrapped their armed around her. They sat there for a while just clinging to each other, before Buffy spoke up hoping to cheer Willow up.

"So, Angel's going to get Faith cleared of all charges. It turns out she's only nineteen."

"Oh, ok, that's good," Willow said, and then registered what Buffy said. "Wait, huh?"

"Yeah, she was only fourteen when we first met her. Go figure. Here we thought she was older than us," Xander said. "Well, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," they responded together.

"Come on Will, let's go to bed, too."

"Ok," Willow responded, getting up to follow. "Buffy?"

"Yeah, Will."

"Are we ever going to get to keep the one's we love?" Willow asked.

"I don't know, Will," Buffy said

AN 2/ so what do think. To make this story work Prue was born a year earlier


	3. A Converstaion and A Family meeting

**A Conversation and A Family Meeting**

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Charmed, Angel, or any of the shows characters. I am just playing with them

AN/ this is going out unbated. Sorry.  
AN2/ I'm sorry. I meant to tell you last chapter, but I forgot. willow is a year younger than the rest of the gang. I've moved Buffy's time line so it falls in line with Charmed. So season 1 of Buffy is during the second half of season 2 of charmed. Prue is a year older in this story then in the show

Chapter 3

A Conversation, and A Family Meeting

Faith was awoken by banging on the door to her motel room. She peeked her head out from under the covers to look at the cloak. "Who the fuck is knocking on my door at 8:00 in the fucking morning," She yelled forgetting about Dawn, who was sleeping on the bed next to Faith's.

"Faith stop yelling and answer the damn door," Dawn grumbled.

"Sorry D, I forgot you were in here," she mumbled, getting up from the bed, and walking over to the door. She stopped just before she opened the door when she heard Dawn squeak out, "Faith put some fucking cloths on." She turned around to reveal her naked front to Dawn, who covered her eyes.

"What's wrong D, don't like the view?" Faith said chuckling at Dawn's blush.

"Shut up, and put some clothing on. Then make that damn knocking stop," Dawn said, and then pulled the covers up over her head.

Faith slipped a pair of jeans, and a tank top on, then answered the door. "Hey Xan-man. What's up?

"Dawn up yet?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, you woke us both up," she said annoyed, walking back to her bed, leaving the door open.

"Sorry," He said stepping into the room, closing the door behind himself. "Willow sent me to get you two. She's taking us shopping and wants everybody ready to go in a half an hour."

"Ooh, Shopping," Dawn squealed jumping up from her bed and running to the bathroom, where her duffel bag was still laying.

"Damn Summers' girls," Faith said chuckling. "How is Willow taking us shopping when we don't have any money?" She asked.

"She turns twenty-one today, and receives the full amount of her trust," Xander said sitting on the bed next to her. "Faith, I want to apologize for what happened between us in Sunnydale. If I knew you were only fourteen, I never would have slept with you. I'm sorry."

Faith looked at him like he was crazy. "Xander, you have nothing to apologize for. If anyone should be apologizing it's me. I didn't give ya much of a choice. I needed to fuck and you were the closest warm body." She paused looking down at her hands. "Xander, I'm really sorry for everything I did to you and the gang. I know I can't make up for everything I did, but I'm going to try."

"You've already started to, Faith, and you weren't the only one to blame for what happened back then. We all played a part in what happened, and you're not the same person you were, so don't be too hard on yourself." Xander said.

"How's Robin doing?" Faith asked changing the subject.

"He's doing better. I can't believe he broke up with you because of your age. Stupid prick. How are you doing?" Xander said.

"Five-by-five," she said at the same time Dawn walked back into the room.

"What the hell does that even mean, Faith?" Dawn asked. Faith just shrugged her shoulders.

"Come on girls, let's go shopping," Xander said.

"I'm gonna pass on the shopping trip," Faith said.

"Are you sure Faith?" asked Dawn, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. See ya later," she said.

"Ok, bye, Faith," Dawn said.  
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Piper was in the kitchen putting away left over's from lunch, when she heard jingling. She turned toward the center of the room. "Hi, Paige," she said as her baby sister materialized. "What brings you by?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"I was just with the elders, and they're being dorks. They won't tell me anything. They won't even tell me who our new whitelighter is," Paige said.

"I know. You've said the same thing for the last three days. Ya know you need to learn to be patient. We'll find out soon enough. The elder said 'By week's end," Piper said imitating Tammy.

"I hate you," Paige grumbled.

"Yeah, but ya still love me," Piper said smiling at Paige.

"Maybe," Paige said letting a smile cross her lips briefly. The smile turned into a frown though when she started to feel tingle all over her body. "Do you feel that?"

"Um, no. What are you feeling?" Piper asked concerned.

"My skin is tingling. Like after we do a really big spell," she said. "I think I'm sensing magic."

"Do you think your whitelighter senses are expanding?" asked Piper.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's powerful," Paige said.

"Do you think we should scry for…?" Piper started to ask, but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. "Or we can just answer the door."

The two of them walked to the front door, and Piper opened it timidly. Both of them half expecting whoever was on the other side to attack them as soon as it was opened. What they weren't expecting was a petite redheaded woman who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly standing on the porch. Paige could feel that she was the one the radiating the power she felt.

"Hello, can we help you?" Piper asked her, trying to sound friendly.

"Um, hi. I'm Willow Rosenberg. Does Prudence Halliwell live here? I was looking for her online today, but I couldn't find anything on her since 2001. It's like she just disappeared. Oh, god. She didn't disappear did she? No that's stupid Willow. It's just that I couldn't find anything on her…" Willow was interrupted when Paige throw her hand over her mouth. Piper and Paige just stared at Willow, not sure what to make of the girl.

"Sorry, I babble when I'm nervous," Willow said sheepishly, when Paige dropped her hand.

"That's ok, why don't you come in," Paige said moving out of the door way along with Piper.

"Yeah, that be great," Willow said bubbly, taking this as good news. Willow followed the sisters into the living room.

"I'm sorry to just drop by like this. I probably should have called first, but I was so nervous. You clearly know Prudence, because you invited me in here. Like I said earlier I looked her up, but couldn't find anything on her, which is odd because I can hack into anything. Even the stuff I found when I was younger, I couldn't find. It was like magic, not that I believe in magic, or practice it. Nope magic free here," she said fast and in one breath. Piper and Paige were looking at Willow like she was crazy. Then Paige noticed little sparks coming off of Willow's hands.

"Um, Willow," she said pointing down at Willow's hands. "No Magic, Huh?"

Willow squeaked, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be letting it out. I'm just so nervous, and you're not freaking out, so clearly you know about magic. Do you know about magic? And hay you haven't told me your names.

A smiling Piper said, "Yeah, we know about magic. My name is Piper and this is my sister Paige. Now why don't you take a seat and calm down, because you're talking really fast."

"Sorry," Willow said taking a seat across from the sisters.

"Willow, what do you want with our sister?" Piper asked.

"Oh, sorry,' she said, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper, then handed it to Piper. "Wait, our sister. I thought Prudence's other sister's name is Phoebe.

"Yeah, Phoebe's probably at work. I was adopted. We only found each other four years ago after…" Piper's hand slapped over Paige's mouth before she could tell her about Prue's death.

"Paige, look at this," Piper said handing the paper to Paige. "I'll be right back," she said, then left the room. Paige sat staring at the paper, until Piper came back in. "Phoebe will be here in a little while. Paige, are you alright?" She asked her sister who looked angry.

"No, I'm not alright. Piper why the fuck didn't you tell me I had a niece out there somewhere?" Paige yell at Piper. "It's shit like this that reminds me how much I've missed out on."

"Paige, we didn't mean to keep this from you. It just hadn't come up. None of us thought we'd ever get to see her again. I'm sorry, but look on the bright side. Now you have someone to share your 'I'm adopted syndrome," Piper said smiling.

"Hey," came two voices.

"Willow, how…" Piper started, but stopped when she heard jingling. Wyatt appeared next to Willow on the couch, causing Willow to scream. Various glass objects around the room to shatter, and Willow to disappear.

Paige jumped from her seat, "Where'd she go?"

"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, you know you're not allowed to orb, when we have strangers in the house," Piper scolded him.

"I'm sorry Mommy. I came to see what I was feeling," Wyatt apologized.

"How did he do that?" came a scared voice suddenly.

"Willow?" asked Piper.

"Yes," Willow said.

"Do you know you're invisible?" asked Paige.

"I am not invisible. I can't do that," She said sounding annoyed."

"Yes you are dear. Look down at your body," Piper said.

"Ah, how did I make myself invisible?" Willow said panicky.

"You've never done it before?" asked Paige.

"No," Willow said. Both sisters could tell she had started to cry. "How am I supposed to become visible again, when I don't even know how I became invisible?" she asked panicking now too. A vase on top of the mantle exploded causing Piper to freeze the room, Paige to jump, and Wyatt to put his shield up.

"Willow, honey, you need to calm down. Your emotions are making your magic go haywire. Where going to figure it out. I promise," Piper said in a motherly tone, calming Willow a little bit.

"Ok, I'll try. Um, what's around him?" Willow asked.

"His shield. Wyatt you can drop it now," Piper said sitting next to Wyatt on the couch. "Honey can you do me a favor? Can you orb to magic school, and get your Daddy, please? Tell him it's an emergency," Piper asked.

"Sure, Mommy. I'll be right back," Wyatt said then orb out of the room.

"Wow. How does he do that? I've never seen or read about that kind of teleportation before." Willow's thirst for knowledge out weighing her fear of being invisible. Paige and Piper noticed the change in her voice. Glad that she calmed down, they silently agreed it was best to keep her mind off of her invisibility until Wyatt returned with Leo. However they needed to know where she was.

"Willow, where are you?" asked Paige.

"I'm next to the couch," said Willow, sounding sad again.

"Ok. Why don't you sit down where you where sitting before, so we know where you are," said Piper.

"Ok," Willow said, and Piper felt her sit down next to her.

"Wyatt is part whitelighter. A kind of guardian angel for witches. His teleportation is called orbing. Paige is part whitelighter too," Piper said looking over at her sister. "Show her Paige." Paige orbed out and orbed back in at the same spot.

"That was so cool. What is it like being part-whitelighter?" Willow asked.

Willow sat there absorbing everything Paige was saying about her duties as a whitelighter, until the front door opened up and Phoebe ran into the living room. "What's the emergency? Are they here?"

"No they're not here yet, but there is someone we want you to meet. Phoebe this is our niece, Willow Rosenberg." Piper said standing up and pointing to the couch where she knew Willow was sitting.

"Piper, have you gone crazy? There's no one there, and we don't have a niece," Phoebe said confused.

"Phoebe, we do have a niece, and she's sitting right here. She turned herself invisible," Piper said looking a Phoebe like she'd gone insane. Phoebe decided to go along with it for now, but was completely confused by what was going on.

"Hi it's nice to meet you. I'm your aunt Phoebe apparently. Though I'm confused about that," Phoebe said extending her hand to where Piper pointed.

"Hi, It's nice to meet you," Willow said. Phoebe's hand was suddenly waving midair, seemingly by its self.

"Wow, I guess this is how you felt when I was invisible," Phoebe said. "I'm sorry this is a little weird.

"It's ok. I know how you feel. We had an invisible girl in our class, who was trying to hurt Cordy and Buffy. That was weird. I'm Prudence's daughter. Who I haven't met yet. Is she getting here soon?" Phoebe looked amused at how fast Willow jumps from one thing to another, but then she looked at her sister's with a sad look.

"You haven't told her?" she asked. Two heads shook no.

"Told me what? What are you talking about?" Willow asked panicking.

"Honey, calm down. We'll explain after my husband get here, and we get you visible again," Piper said.

"Ok," Willow said.

"I'm confused," Phoebe began, sitting down in the chair next to Paige's.  
"How did you become invisible, and when did Prue have a kid?"

"I didn't mean to do it. I'm not even sure how I did it. I've never been able to do it before, even with all the magic I absorbed last year," Willow said more to herself then the sisters. "And twenty-one years ago today."

"Twenty-one years ago what?" Phoebe asked, confused by how fast Willow talks.

"She's telling you when Prue had her, you dork," Paige said smiling.

"Oh, so you turn Twenty-one today. Happy Birthday," Phoebe said.

"Thank-you," Willow said, as Wyatt orbed back into the room with his Dad.

"Hi, honey," Piper said, going over to Leo and giving him a kiss.

"Wyatt said something about a disappearing lady," Leo said.

"Yeah, Willow," Piper said pointing to the couch where she knew Willow sat. "Willow this is my husband, Leo. We'll give you some space. Come on Wyatt," Piper said, grabbing Wyatt's hand, and walking toward the kitchen.

"Wyatt, can you go see if your brother is still asleep, please?" Piper asked him, when they reached the kitchen. He nodded and orbed upstairs.

"So we have a niece," Phoebe stated.

"Yes, we do. Don't you remember Prue being pregnant?" asked Piper.

"No, I don't," She said.

"That's weird," Paige said.

"Do you think Grams did something to my memory?" asked Phoebe.

"I don't know. Maybe, but why you and not me," answered Piper. Phoebe just shrugged.

"Well, who's her father?" asked Paige.

"Andy," Piper answered.

"His name wasn't on the adoption papers," Paige said.

"Is that it?" Phoebe asked pointing to the folded piece of paper still in Paige's hand. Paige nodded, and handed her the piece of paper.

Wyatt orbed back in while Phoebe was reading the paper. "He's still asleep Mommy," He said.

"Ok, Buddy, thank you," Piper said ruffling Wyatt's hair.

"You're welcome," Wyatt said, moving to sit at the table.

"Are we sure she is who she says she is? How do we know that she's not a demon, and this is just a fake?" Asked Phoebe, bringing up a good point.

"I'm not a demon, and that is real. I promise. Not that that means a whole lot, because you don't know me. You can check it out if you'd like. I won't get mad," Willow said coming into the kitchen behind Leo.

"I'll go check with the elders," Paige said, before anyone could suggest it.

"Elders?" Willow asked after Paige orbed out.

"They're kind of like whitelighters, just higher up," Leo said.

"Oh, ok," Willow said. then noticed Phoebe was looking at her strangely. "Um, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry. It's just… Is that your real hair color?" Phoebe asked looking confused.

"Yes." Phoebe looked even more confused. She looked at Piper who was channeling Phoebe's thought process. "How did she get red hair? Both Prue and Andy had dark hair?"

"Andy? Who's Andy? Wait, had. What do you mean had?" Willow asked confused, starting to panic.

"Phoebe!" Piper said drawing out the E's.

"Why does everybody always say my name like that," Phoebe said. Piper responded by pointing to Willow, who had started crying. "Oh," she said realizing her mistake. "Sorry."

"You said had, as in past tense. My Mom's dead, and you said that Andy had dark hair too, so that means he's my father, and he's dead too," Willow said thinking out loud. "Both my parents are dead?" She finally asked the sisters. Neither one of them had to say a thing; because of the tears that were running down their faces were answer enough for Willow.

"Come on Wyatt, let's go watch some TV," said Leo picking Wyatt up and carrying him out of the room, leaving the girls alone. Willow slumped to the floor next to the island. Piper and Phoebe sat down next to her, and wrapped their arms around her. They were in that position when Paige returned fifteen minutes later.

"Hey guys. She's really our niece, and I got to meet the new whitelighter. She's really nice… What did I miss?" she asked noticing them on the floor for the first time.

"Phoebe let the beans spill about Prue, and Andy," Piper said.

"Oh, well it's not all bad. At least she can still meet them," Paige said trying to cheer Willow up.

"I can. How?" Willow asked, feeling hopeful.

"We can try to summon them. We haven't been able to in the past, but I think this time we will be able to." Piper said.

"Can we? Please?" Willow asked.

"Yeah come on. We'll teach you how to do the spell." Phoebe said getting up and extending both of her arms to help Piper and Willow up. The four of them had made it to the dining room, when they heard jingling, and a familiar voice say, "There's no need to summon us." The swirling blue lights stopped, and in their place stood Prue, and Andy. Smiling in whitelighters robes, looking as young as the day they died. "We're already here.

AN/ I'm taking suggestions on Big bads, pairings, and any old characters you want to return. Just let me know.


	4. Rewards

**Rewards **

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, Buffy, angel, or any of their characters

A/N: This is going out unbated again. So let me know if you see any mistakes I missed.

Chapter 4

Rewards

"Well, are you going to stand there and stare or are you going to come hug you big sister," Prue said, smiling.

Two bodies collided into Prue, both of them putting their faces into the crook of Prue's neck. She could feel that they were crying. She turned and gave Phoebe a kiss on her head, and then gave one to Piper. She was so happy to be in the arms of her sister's again. She looked up at the remaining women. Paige was standing next to Willow, with a smile on her face. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Willow's eyes were shifting between Prue and Andy. She felt like she knew them, but couldn't place them.

Phoebe looked up from her place, with a huge smile on her face. She looked at Andy and said, "Hi Andy." That's when it dawned on Willow who these people were. Phoebe and Piper moved from Prue to give Andy a hug.

Prue moved to Paige. She looked at her for a second before hugging her. "It's so good to finally meet you, Paige," She whispered in her ear.

"It's good to finally meet you, too, Prue," Paige whispered back. Prue let go of her youngest sister, and turned toward the redhead.

"Hello, Willow," She said, with a huge smile on her face. "I am so happy you are finally home again."

Willow wasn't sure what to say. Standing in front of her was the person who had given her up for adoption twenty-one years, and who was supposed to be dead. Unsure of what to say, Willow did what she did best, babbled. "It's nice to meet you. I'm your daughter Willow, but you already know that, because you called me Willow. How did you know who I am, and how are you here? Phoebe said you were dead. We were going to summon you, when you showed up. Are you ghosts? No Willow that's stupid. I touched you so you can't be a ghost, but…" Willow was silenced by her mother's hand. Everyone was staring at her with a smile on their faces.

"She brings up a good point. How are you here? We didn't get a chance to summon you," asked Phoebe.

"I'll explain in a minute Pheebs, but first," She paused and looked at Willow. "Willow, this is your father, Andy." Andy walked over to Willow and pulled him into his arms. "We are here because the elders sent us here. We are your reward." Prue said.

"So the reward Tammy was talking about is having you with us for the day?" Phoebe asked confused.

"No," Prue began. "Your reward is having us here to stay. The elders made us whitelighters." Piper, Phoebe, and Paige stood there with matching looks on their faces. Andy and Prue started to laugh. They were so happy to be back with them again.

"Prue, what do you mean here to stay," Willow asked. Prue stopped laughing and she looked a little hurt hearing Willow call her by her name instead of mom. Before she could answer they heard the jingles of a whitelighter entering the house.

"I can explain," said the now formed Tammy.

"You again. Are we actually going to get answers this time?" Said Piper.

"Yes you are Piper. Prue and Andy are the reward I was talking about. We have made them whitelighters. We altered their records so that instead of their records showing them dying it will show them slipping into a coma until today."

"So let me get this straight. You altered history so that they never died, made it looked like they were in a coma, and made them whitelighters. Is that right?" asked Paige.

"Yes, it is." said Tammy.

"Are you going to fill us in on the new whitelighter, and that group, um, what's there name, again?" asked Phoebe.

"Scoobies and the answers to your questions are already here." She said looking at Willow. "Willow, please have your friends here at three tomorrow. The PTB and The Elders would like to talk to all of you."

"Prue, Andy, remember any time you wish to no longer be whitelighters, we will strip your powers and you can go on living your live out," Tammy finished, and then disappeared.

"I hate that damn women. Every time she comes she leaves us more confused than before," Piper said.

"I don't know. She said we already have the answers here, but I am confused about why she wants Willow's friends here tomorrow," said Phoebe.

"I don't know, but what do you want with the Scooby Gang?" asked Willow.

Phoebe looked at Willow confused, then it dawned on her," Oh, you mean the Scoobies. We don't know yet. Do you know the Scoobies?"

"I am a Scooby. We used to be just me, Xander, Buffy, and Giles, but the groups grown over the years," said Willow.

"Oh," said Phoebe. "Ok, so what do you know about Sunnydale?"

Prue noticed the brief sad look cross Willow's face. "How about we sit down in the living room," She said. She got five looks of agreement. When they reached the living room, they all smiled. Leo and Wyatt were lying on the couch asleep.

Piper went over to Leo and shook him gently to wake him. He looked up at her and smiled. He shifted Wyatt so that he could sit up. Then he saw Prue and Andy. "What'd I miss?" He asked.

"The Elder's made Prue and Andy whitelighters and Willow is a Scooby," Phoebe said.

"Oh, ok. It's good to have you back. I'm just going to put him back to bed, and check on Chris," Leo said, and he carried Wyatt out of the room.

Prue sat down in the middle of the couch pulling Willow down on her right. Phoebe sat down on her left, Piper and Paige sat down in the chairs across from them, and Andy sat on the arm of the couch.

"So you're a Scooby," Phoebe stated. "We were lead to believe that The Scoobies were involved with the fall of Sunnydale."

"You were lead to believe right. My friends and I were fighting against the First Evil. Well trying to anyways but since he's in corporal we can't actually fight him. Nope we just went for months with him taunting us, with wearing the faces of the ones we love. Half the time not even knowing if it was him we were talking to or not, and Buffy making me her big, gun with the plan to activate all of the slayers. And Angel giving Buffy that amulet that ended up destroying the…" Phoebe slapped her hand over her mouth this time. "Sorry, you figured out how to make me stop quickly."

"Did I hear you say slayers and the first evil?" asked Leo, making everybody jump. None of them heard him return

"Yes I did. Do you know about slayers?" she asked him.

"Yes, will you please start from the beginning," He asked, sitting on the arm of Piper's chair.

"Sure. I'll just give you the cliff notes for now. My friend Buffy moved to Sunnydale when we were sophomores. My other friend Xander and I found out that she was the slayer when our other Friend Jessie was turned into a vampire. A couple of months later Buffy died and was brought back to life by Xander. Even though it was only for a couple of minutes a new slayer was activated. See there were only one active slayer a time, and thousand of potential slayer. A potential was only activated when the current slayer died. The new slayer, Kendra, died a year later. That's when I first started using magic. Kendra's death activated Faith. Faith's story is for her to tell, not mine. I'll fast forward to the end of my sophomore year of college. Buffy died again. Only this time we couldn't resuscitate her. That is a story for another time too. Four months later my friends and I resurrected Buffy. That's how the first evil was able to become powerful again. His whole plan was to wipe out the slayer line, and open the hellmouth. He came close too. We found the Slayer's Scythe. An awesome weapon built for a slayer, and a friend gave Buffy an amulet, but we didn't know what it did though. So on Tuesday we went to the high school, which is over the hellmouth. Buffy, Faith, Spike and about thirty or so potentials went down into the hellmouth to fight the Turok-Han vampires, and I went to the principal's office. I used the Scythe to activate all the potential slayers in the world, and the slayers fought. The amulet that Spike was wearing did something. I think it channeled the sun through it and it closed the hellmouth, and it destroyed the town. For months we hid in Buffy's house, fighting bringer, and umber vamps only for us to destroy an entire town," Willow finished her monologue, and a single tears lipped down her cheek.

"What would have happened if the first succeeded?" asked Paige.

"Then there would have been no one to fight when the first opened the hellmouth, and unleashed hell," Willow said.

"What did you mean when you said that he was wearing the faces of the ones you love," asked Piper.

"The First can take the form of anyone who has died," said Willow

"You changed the slayer line forever. You tipped the scale of good and evil to good. You've changed the world," Leo said.

"And you paid the price didn't you Willow?" asked Phoebe.

"We've all paid the price more than once, to keep this world safe" Willow said, more tears falling down her face.

Seeing that this conversation was taking a toll on Willow, Piper decided to shift it toward the new whitelighter. "Well we know what our reward is, and we now know about the Scoobies so all we're waiting on is the new whitelighter. Right."

"That's right. I met her today, she's really nice. She's shy and stutters a little bit, but she's nice. I think you're going to like her. I can't remember her name now though," Paige paused trying to remember her name.

"Tara?" Paige heard Willow half ask, half say.

"Yeah that's it. How did …" She started to ask but noticed Willow was looking over her shoulder. Looking backwards, the woman in question was standing there.

A/N: I'm not sure how the paragraph that willow was explaining what happened in Sunnydale, turned out. Let me know what you think, and I Know that this chapter seems rushed. I'm sorry.  
A/N: again let me know your ideas on big bads and pairing.


	5. Forgiveness

**forgiveness**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Buffy, Charmed, or Angel.

A/N: Sorry for the long update. I just moved and I was adjusting to the new place. Hopefully I'll go back to a chapter a week.

Chapter 5

"Hi, Tara. I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow?" Paige asked.

"The El-elders thought it would b-be b-best if I came today instead of t-tomorrow," Tara replied said, not removing her eyes from Willow. Willow sat there staring at the women she loves, completely stunned. Her mind was racing. 'She's been gone for year. Is that really her? Paige is talking to her. Did she the elders? IS she a whitelighter, too? She's wearing the same robes as Prue and Andy. So maybe she is. Willow, damn it say something to her. Better yet get up and walk over to her. Come on stop being a such a wimp. I can do this. I can do this. I can't do this. What if this is all just my imagination. What if I go over to her and she disappears. What if she knows what I did, and she don't want anything to do with me. No, Willow. Tara wouldn't do that. Yes she would. She did. She broke up with me because of my magic use, and what I did last year was so much worse. She'll never forgive me.'

Willow's eyes never left Tara, while she was internally babbling to herself. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige noticed the shared look between the two women and were silently wondering what was going on. Already aware of the connection between the two, Prue, decided to end the staring contest, and pull her daughter out of her thoughts. She stood up and walked over to Tara to introduce herself.

"Hello, Tara. I'm Prue," she said, reaching her right hand out for Tara to shake.

Taking the outstretched hand, Tara smiled sweetly at Prue, and said, "H-hello Ms. Halliwell. It's nice to me-meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. These are my sister's Piper, Phoebe, and Paige, he's Leo, Piper's husband, and he is my boyfriend Andy," Prue said, pointing to everybody as she went along. "If you will excuse us I want to go meet my nephews and spend a little time with my sisters before we go to P3 to celebrate Willow's birthday." She gave Willow a smile before walking out the living room and up the stairs, with Andy, Piper, Leo, Phoebe, and Paige hot on her heals.

Tara turned her attention back on to Willow, who was still sitting on the couch. Only now she had her head down staring at her lap. Tara walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. When Willow didn't look up, Tara tentatively placed her hand on Willow's cheek, and whispered, "Lo-look at me Willow, please." Willow brought her right hand up and placed it over Tara's, and slowly lifted her head up to look at Tara in the eyes. There she saw the proof she needed. This really was Tara. Willow didn't have much time to process this before she felt warm lips tentatively touching hers.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Prue, are we missing something?" Phoebe asked as they walked up the stairs. Prue turned and gave her sisters a smile. "Ok, are you going to tell us, or leave us in the dark?"

"It's Willow's story to tell, not ours," Andy said with a smile.

"At least give us a hint," Paige said.

"Nope, sorry, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll find out soon." Prue chuckled. They walked down the hall to the boy's room. Prue peeked in to find Chris and Wyatt sitting on the floor. Wyatt was floating blocks above Chris, who was trying to catch them.

Leo slipped past Prue and went over to the boys. He sat down next to Wyatt and whispered something in his ear. The floating blocks fell gently to the floor, and Wyatt orbed out of the room. He returned a minute later in front of Prue, with a red rose in his hands.

"Hello Aunt Prue. It's nice to meet you," He said with a big smile on his face. "I picked this rose from the garden for you." He handed her the rose, then gave her a hug.

"Hello, Wyatt. Thank you for the rose. Andy, come over here. Wyatt this is my boyfriend Andy," she said.

"Hello Andy. Will you come over here and play with us?" Wyatt asked, walking back over to Leo, and Chris.

Prue, Andy, Phoebe, and Paige went over to the boys. Piper stayed in the doorway watching her family playing with her sons. Life was good. Her family is complete again. There was just one person missing from the family reunion. Piper quietly slipped away and walked to her room. She sat on her bed and picked up the phone on her bed stand. She dialed the number for her dad and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello," Victor said picking up the phone.

"Hi Dad," she said.

"Hi, Piper. How are you?"

"Good Dad. Really good. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing. Why? Did you hear more from the elders?"

"Um, sort-of. Can you come to P3 tonight?"

"Sure, honey. Any particular time you want me there?"

"Yeah come around nine. Bye dad." Not wanting to spill the beans about Prue and Willow over the phone, she hung up the phone before Victor had a chance to say goodbye. She picked up the phone and dialed p3 to set everything up for tonight. After hanging the phone back up again she sat on her bed for a few minutes before going back to the boy's room.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Back at the hotel Xander, Dawn, Buffy, and Giles were gathered in Buffy and Willow's room discussing how to rebuild the New Council. So far they had agreed that they were throwing out all of the old council's rules and regulations, and that they were going to open a school to train baby slayers, and new watchers. They were currently discussing building options.

"So are we going to buy a place that has a building that fits our needs, or are we going to buy land and build our own building?" asked Dawn.

"I think we should first look around for a building that suits our needs. If we can't find one, then we will discuss building our own place." Giles answered.

"Which brings us to another snag," Xander said. "How are we going to afford to do either of those options? Even if we can find a building, it will probably new to be fixed up, and we'll need to put in a gym, and a big kitchen and cafeteria, and dorm rooms. If we can't find a building and have to start from scratch it's going to cost even more. We're talking beams, dry wall, cement, windows, floors, electrical systems, workers, and we're going to have to reinforce everything because it's a school for slayers. Two of them get into a fight and we say bye-bye to the south wing," Xander finished, not noticing the other three staring at him like he'd gone insane.

"Jeez, Xan, Willow babble much," Buffy teased, making Xander blush, and then turned to Giles. "In between his babbling, he made a good point, Giles. How are we going to pay for this?"

"Yes indeed, it is a good point. One we needn't worry about. The Council has a sufficient amount of funds; it is only a matter of accessing them. Which I am sure Willow will have no trouble doing so on that blasted machine of hers," Giles said with distaste in his voice.

"Ah, Giles, it's the twenty first century. It's about time you get over your fear of computers," Buffy teased the watcher. "Wait, you said the council has a lot of money. How much we talking about?"

"In American dollars, it would be well into the billion's," Giles hesitantly. Dawn, Buffy, and Xander's mouths dropped.

"Billion's. As in a billion dollars?" Dawn asked stunned. Giles nodded his head yes. "So let me get this straight. The council has all that money, and they let my sister work in a burger joint, struggling to make ends meet, risking her life every night and let Faith live in a rat infested motel, were vampires don't need an invitation to come in, while they lived the high life, without a care in the fucking world," Dawn exploded.

"Dawn, watch your mouth," Buffy said to her little sister, smiling. "She right, what the fuck, Giles?"

"This should come as no surprise Buffy. The old Council was a bunch of wankers. All we can do now is make sure the new slayers and all future slayers are well taken. It will not be as it was before. We'll see to it," Giles said.

"Giles, how do you think new slayers are going to be called?" asked Xander.

"I'm not sure. I think only time will tells us how the new slayer line will go," Giles answered pulling his glasses off to clean them.

"Ok. So we've figured out what we're doing, and how we're paying for it. What's next?" asked Buffy.

"Classes. We have to figure out what we're going to teach," said Dawn.

"Yes. Since most of our students will be under age we'll have to have a state mandated curriculum on top of our curriculum. Which I think we should wait to discuss until we have every together," Giles replied.

"Speaking of which, where are the girls and Faith?" asked Xander.

"Faith was on the phone with Angel, when I left. She said she'd be here later," Dawn said.

"And the girls are in the gym working out," Buffy said.

"Do you think everything's going alright with Willow?" Dawn asked.

"I hope so," Buffy said glancing at the cloak on the bed side table next to her. "It's after three now, and she's been gone for two hours, so I hoping it good news. We won't know though until she gets back."

"Well I am going back to my room," Giles said standing up from his chair. "I will see you all later."

"Bye Giles," Dawn, Buffy, and Xander replied at the same time, as Giles left.

"I'm going to go down to the gym with the girls. I'll see you guys later," said Dawn, as she made her way to the door.

"Bye Dawnie," The other two replied.

"I'm Going to go see if Faith is done talking to Angel. You coming?" asked Buffy.

"No. I haven't seen Andrew in a while so I better go make sure he isn't plotting our deaths," Xander said deadpanned.

"That isn't funny Xander," Buffy scolded.

"Yeah. I really should make sure he isn't getting himself into trouble though," Xander chuckled. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Buffy said as she locked the door behind them. She walked down the hall to Faith and Dawn's room and knocked on the door.

She opened the door, when she heard Faith say come in. Faith was sitting in the middle of her bed, with her legs crossed, twirling a stake in her hands.

"Ya know, you should openly invite people into your room. I could have been a vampire," Buffy stated.

"Yeah, but I knew it was you, besides if a vamp came in here I would've just staked it," Faith said, jabbing the stake in her hand a little. "So what brings ya by?"

"Dawn said you were talking to Angel, so I figured I'd come see if you were alright." Buffy said. "Did he have any news?"

"Yeah, he had news alright," Faith muttered.

"Well are you going to spill, or am I going to have to guess?" Buffy asked, walking over to Faith's bed and sitting down at the foot end. Faith didn't say anything for a few moments.

"He got my conviction overturned," she finally said.

"Wow that was fast. That's great Faith. That is great right Faith, because you don't seem to be happy." Buffy said. Faith just sat there with her head down. Buffy scooted closer to Faith, placed her hand on her chin, and slowly lifted her head up. What Buffy saw on Faith's face was something she'd only saw once before. Tears. Steady streams of tears were silently rolling down her face. "Faith what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Buffy asked. When Faith didn't say anything Buffy pulled her forward into a hug. "Please Faith talk to me. I'm here for you. Please." Her words made Faith cry even harder.

"I'm so sorry Buffy. I'm so sorry. For everything I did," Faith finally said, in between sobs. She dropped the stake and wrapped her arms around Buffy. "I don't want to go back, but it's where I belong. I don't deserve to be free. I hurt all of you. I almost killed Xander, I held a knife to Willow's throat, I shot Angel, I killed two innocent men, I teamed up with the enemy, and I hurt you. I threw the friendships you and the gang was offering back in your faces. I don't deserve anything. I belong in jail."

"No you don't, Faith. You've proved that your good." Buffy said, tears falling down her face too. "You helped save the world twice since you've been out, and this, right now proves that you're sorry for what you did. You don't belong there. We've all screwed up, and we were all forgiven for what we did. We forgive you too Faith." Buffy suddenly found herself on the floor. Faith, who was now standing on the other side of the bed, had flung her off the bed.

"B stop it, damn it. I don't deserve to be forgiven. Stop, just stop." Faith yelled. Buffy got back up, and walked over to Faith.

"Yes you do. We forgave Willow when she tried, and damn near almost succeed in killing all of us, and the world. They forgave me when I almost killed them, and ya know what we forgive you too. I just hope you can forgive me,"

"What the hell did you do that needs forgiving, B? You didn't do anything wrong," Faith said.

"Yes, I did. I wasn't the friend you need. We all played our part in what happened. We young and stupid and I'm sorry Faith," Buffy said wrapping her arms around Faith again. Faith tried to push Buffy away again, but Buffy was ready for it this time. After a minutes Faith gave up and wrapped her arms around Buffy, crying into the crook of Buffy's neck. The girls sank to the floor. They sat there for a few minutes, calming down, before Buffy maneuvered the two of them back on the bed, only lying done this time. Faith wrapped her body around Buffy, and buried her face in between Buffy's breasts. Buffy gave a Faith a kiss on the top of her head, before moving to rest her chin there, and that's where Dawn found them an hour later, sound asleep.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Willow's mind was blank. All she was aware of was the warm lips touching hers. The warm tongue sliding across her lips, asking for entrance. Fighting with hers for dominance. Warm lips and tongue that she hadn't felt in a year. Hadn't felt since that fateful day when her love was taken from her. That's when it hit her. Willow broke the kiss, and jumped off of the couch, leaving a very surprised Tara behind.

"Willow, what's wr-wrong?" Tara asked, not understanding why she jumped away so suddenly. "Aren't you h-happy, I'm here?"

The insecure tone in Tara's voice made Willow's heart break. "No Tara, that's not it. I am so happy that you're here. It's just that, how can you love me when I was the reason you got s-shot, and what I did after that?" Willow said softly.

Tara stood up and walked over to the fire place where Willow was standing. "Willow, you're not the reason I got shot, please don't think that, and what you did after was not your fault." Tara told her softly. Willow looked at Tara in surprise. "Yes I know, the elders showed it to me afterwards."

Willow moved away from Tara. "It was my fault Tara, if I had stopped using magic when you asked me to, you wouldn't have broken up, and we wouldn't have been in that fucking room when Warren showed up. You would've been at class, not getting shot, and how can you say what I did wasn't my fault. It was Tara. I knew what I was doing. I let the magic take control. I let it. I took pleasure in it. How can ever love me after that?" Willow yelled, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

Tara felt willow's magic starting to flow to the surface, grabbing Willow's hand she pulled her forward enveloping her in a hug. "Calm down, baby, please. Your magic is rising, again. Come sit down with me, and I'll explain. Please?" Tara whispered in Willow's ear, and then pulled her to the couch.

"Willow, my death was not your fault. I would have died that day no matter where I was that day. It was destined to be. I needed to die to make you strong enough to do that spell. If I had lived you wouldn't have been able to. You did exactly what was needed to win, and because of that you get me back, and I am so sorry Willow. I never should have given you that ultimatum. It wasn't your fault that you were using magic so much. You have two different kinds of magic flowing throw you. You just didn't know how to control your charmed magic."

"My what magic?" asked Willow confused.

"Your Charmed magic. You're the daughter of the oldest Charmed one. You have the magic of the charmed ones flowing throw you." Tara explained.

"Wait, Charmed ones? That story you used to tell me about? There real and I'm the daughter of one of them." Tara nodded her head.

"It's good that you're with them now. They can help you control the magic that was passed from them, while I can help you relearn control over your earth magic," Tara said. "I love you, Willow.

Willow hesitated before she replied. "I love you, too, Tara. This information doesn't change how I feel about what I did. I let the magic take over."

"That's alright, I had hoped it would make it easier to accept, but I think you're going to have to accept it in your own time. Just know, I'm here for you. No matter what. I love you." Tara said leaning forward to capture Willow's lips. The kiss was brief.

"I love you, too," Leaning forward again to capture Tara's lips. This kiss was anything but brief. Before either of them knew it they were lying side by side on the couch making out. This felt right to Willow. So much better then when she was with Kennedy. Not that Kennedy was a bad kisser; she just didn't love her like she loves Tara. Willow pulled away suddenly as she remembered the girl. "Um there's something I have to tell you. I was with somebody else while you were gone," she said quietly.

"I know, and it's alright. Kennedy helped you when I couldn't. I never wanted you to be alone. Don't feel guilty for trying to find comfort in someone else. I was d-dead." Tara said, and then noticed the frown on Willow's face. "What's wrong baby?

"I don't like when you stutter," she replied with a pout. Tara leaned forward to capture the protruding lip.

"Do you think thing will be like before all the badness happened?" Willow asked.

"No. I think things between us will be better," Tara said with a smile on her face. She leaned forward again to kiss Willow, but Willow's overactive mind stopped her.

"Do you think were moving too fast. After everything that happened, shouldn't we rebuild our relationship? Just to make sure we get it right," Willow asked.

"Willow, I love you. We've missed a year of not being together, so I don't want to waste anymore time." Tara said.

"Fair enough," Willow said, leaning forward and picking up where they left off. Willow's hands were starting to wander up Tara's robes when she heard a voice behind them.

"Look honey, our daughter's making out on the couch with her girlfriend," Prue said. Starling Willow she fell off the couch and started to blush as bright as her hair. Tara sat up blushing as well, fixed her robes so her legs were no longer showing. She looked down at Willow, and started to laugh. Willow had a caught in the headlight look on her face. Willow looked at Tara like she was insane before she too, busted up laughing.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige were now standing next to Prue and Andy, wondering what was going on.

"Why are they laughing?" asked Phoebe.

"We caught them making out on the couch like a bunch of hormone driven teenagers," Andy said loud enough for the laughing women to here, causing them to sober up.

"Oh, ok. Wait what?" Phoebe said.

"Duh Phoebe, they were kissing. If you don't know what making out is then what the hell do you and Coop do when your alone?" Paige teased.

"Ha ha Paige. I meant when did the togetherness happen. Didn't they just meet?" Phoebe asked.

"Um, no. Tara and I were together before she…died," Willow said, sitting back onto the couch, and grabbing Tara's hand. "And now we have another chance to be together."

"That's so cute," Phoebe said skipping over to Willow, and sitting next to her on the couch. "I'm happy for you."

"I'm happy for you too, but no more making out on the couch. That's what your room UPSTAIRS is for," Piper said, taking a seat in the chair across from them. Making sure Willow caught the upstairs part. Paige sat down in the other chair across from them.

"What do you mean? I don't have a room upstairs," Willow asked confused.

"Well, you see, while you were done here making out on the couch we had a little talk. We want you near us, and your father and I are going to be staying here, so Piper offered the spare bedroom to you," Prue said, sitting next to Tara, followed by Andy, who sat on the arm of the couch.

"But what about Tara, and my friends. I don't want to leave them behind. We've finally got back to a good place in our relationship," Willow said.

"Well Tara is more than welcome to stay here as well, as long as you two don't wake the whole house up at night," Piper teased, making both girls blush again. "As for your friends, we think it would be best for them to stay here as well. How many friends did you bring with you?"

"Well there's Buffy, who's the original slayer, Buffy's little sister Dawn, who is also a slayer, our best friend Xander, who fixes thing when the slayers break it, Giles, Buffy's watcher, Faith, the last slayer called before I did my spell, Andrew who's just a pain in the ass, and three baby slayers, Amanda, Rona, and Vi. So that's nine," Willow rambled off.

"Ok it'll be a tight squeeze, but we'll make it work," Piper said.

"Um, I not sure it such a good idea. Can I think about it for a few days?" Willow asked, fidgeting a little.

"Yeah sure, How about you call your friends and invite them to P3 tonight?" Piper replied.

"Um isn't P3 a club? As in no minors? Because most of my friends are under twenty one," Willow asked.

"Don't worry; we've been trying some new things out at the club. Underage night is one of them, and tonight just happens to be that night," Piper said.

"Really?" asked Phoebe.

"Yeah," Piper said chuckling. "Funny timing huh?"

"A bit, but that's pretty much my life. A series of coincidences," Willow said.

"Well if that isn't a bit depressing," Paige said.

"Not really. Coincidences are just fate stepping in, and they can bring some of the best things into your life, and some of the worst. I mean was it a coincidence that I was adopted by a couple living on a hellmouth. Was it a coincidence that Buffy moved to Sunnydale, right before The Harvest, and she happens to befriend a seemingly ordinary geek, who turns out to be the daughter of one of the Charmed Ones. Coincidence or fate? And as Tara pointed out to me earlier. Was it a coincidence we were in our room the day Wa-warren showed up with a gun, or fate?" Willow babbled. "Ok, that is a bit depressing."

"Yeah it is, but while you lost me at some points, I get what you're saying. If Prue hadn't died, then we would never have known about Paige." Phoebe said. "What is The Harvest, and who is Warren?" she asked hesitantly, torn between wanting to know and not wanting to upset Willow.

"The Harvest was a once in a century opportunity for this really old vamp called the Master to escape his underground prison. He got swallowed by an earthquake almost seventy years ago," Willow said, before pausing. Lowering her head, trying to figure out what exactly was ok to tell them. She was silent for only a moment before she felt a comforting hand on her knee. She raised her head to meet the eyes of her mother.

"It's alright Willow. You can tell them everything. They'll understand. Just give them a chance to," Prue told her quietly. Willow nodded her head, but didn't speak at first.

"Warren was the man who shot Tara, one of the men that I…that I killed," she said slowly. Phoebe, Piper, and Paige sat there stunned. None of them could believe that the women who sat there could have killed a human being, But then again they could understand why she did it. He had killed the women she loved.

"It wasn't really her fault, she…" Tara started but was interrupted by Willow.

"Yes, it was, Tara. I let the magic take control. I knew what I was doing," she said to Tara, tears starting to fall.

"Hold up for a second. Ok, you have us really confused. What do you mean you let the magic take control, and how many people did you kill?" Piper interrupted.

"I k-killed two men, and I-I-I…" Willow tried to say; she was crying even more, that it was hard to speak.

"It's alright Willow, calm down sweetie," Tara comforted Willow. "We did a spell to resurrect Buffy almost two years. Well Willow did it really, and that's when she started using magic for everything. Even for simple thing like drying her hair. It became an addiction for her. I b-broke up with because of it." She paused and pulled Willow closer. Wrapping her arms completely. "She had a friend who was turned into a rat during her senior year of high school, which she turned back into a human right after we broke up. Amy took her to a warlock, Rack, who used his magic to juice people up. Willow was high on magic when she crashed a car with Buffy's younger sister in it. She quit cold turkey. We had only be back together for two days when Warren s-shot me. That's why were in the bedroom that morning, and not at school. The magic had built up in her system, and because of my death Willow had no control over it. It took her over. When she killed Warren and Rack she was juiced up on the magic. It wasn't her fault." Tara finished.

"Yes it was Tara. I let the magic come out. I called on Osiris, to bring you back. I went to the Magic Box and absorbed those books. I hunted him. I killed Rack for his magic. I knew what I was doing." Willow yelled through her tears.

"Willow, you killed the man that killed Tara, and a demon. You probably save a lot of people lives, and you helped save the world a week ago. You are a good person. All of us have gone through a dark patch. Hell I became the queen of the underworld, but I came back to the side of good. You over came it," Phoebe said.

"Rack wasn't a demon. He was human, too," Willow said.

"Huh?" asked Phoebe.

"There's more than one kind of warlock. There are the warlocks we fight. Demons. Then there's human men who use earth magic," Prue explained.

"Oh," Phoebe said dumbfounded.

"Is that why you are reluctant to move in here?" asked Paige.

"Partly. I'm not the only one of my group who has turned to the dark side," Willow said, calming down.

"Ok, well, are they doing well now," asked Paige.

"Yeah, Andrew is just a pain. He just got caught up with Warren. I think he was in love with him. He killed his best friend, because the First was impersonating Warren. He's trying to repent for what he did. We just have to keep an eye on him. Faith kind of went into a down ward spiral after she accidentally killed the deputy major. She teamed up with the Major of Sunnydale, who was trying to become a true demon, and she killed a profession on his orders. There was a bunch of badness, and it ended up with Buffy stabbing her, and her going into a comma, for eight months. She turned herself into the police after that," Willow replied.

"But she's out now?" asked Piper.

"Yeah, she broke out last month to help, Angel, a friend of ours, and then came back to Sunnydale to help with the first. Angel is trying to get her conviction overturned," Willow told them.

"Does she still belong in jail?" asked Phoebe.

"She thinks she does. I don't think so though, especially now that we found out she was only fifteen when it all happened. If we leave it up to her she will go back, even though she doesn't want to," Willow said.

"Fifteen? Was she in state prison or juvenile detention?" asked Paige.

"Prison," Willow replied. "I think the watcher set it up. Angel told me that the police didn't have any evidence linking Faith to the crime. Only her confession and she didn't have a trial."

"How old is she now, and is she dangerous?" asked Piper, thinking of her children.

"She's nineteen now, and I think she more of a danger to herself than anybody else," Willow said sadly.

"Do you think she'll hurt herself?" asked Phoebe.

"I don't know. Faith's kind of a wild card. We don't know a whole lot about her, but I don't think she's really had anybody in her life that's really cared. The only person she every mention from her life before Sunnydale, was her watcher, and she was murdered by a vampire in front of her, "Willow said.

"God that's horrible," Piper said. "Well, Wyatt trust's you, so that means I trust you. If you say that there no longer a danger, then we'll believe it. Think about my offer and talk it over with your friends, and let me know. I have to go start dinner. Are the two of you staying?" she asked Willow and Tara.

"Um sure, I should probably call my friends, and I'll have to go back to the hotel to change. Are you coming with us tonight?" she replied to her aunt then asked Tara.

"I only have my robes to wear," Tara relied sheepishly.

"That's ok, I'm sure we can find something upstairs for you to wear," said Piper.

"Alright, I'll come, but let's wait until we get to P3 to tell the gang about me. I want to see the look on their faces," Tara said grinning.

"You are evil women Tara McClay. Playing with our friends like that, and there probably are going to think your evil when they first see you. The might attack you," Willow said deadpanned.

"Well then, you'll just have to save me won't you," Tara said, leaning in for a kiss, clearly forgetting they were not alone in the room.

The kiss earned an "awe" from Paige and Phoebe, and a "what did I say about making out on the couch," from Piper. The two broke apart blushing. Willow whispered "vixen," into Tara's ear before moving away.

"I'm going to call my friends," Willow said pulling a cell phone out of her pocket.

"Ok, we'll be in the kitchen," said Prue.

"Tell your friends, to tell the bouncer at the club that there the Scoobies. He'll let them right in," Piper said. The four sisters and Andy left Willow to her phone call and went to the kitchen. Piper started pulling out ingredients for dinner, while the other three sat down at the table.

"You surprised me Piper," said Prue.

"Why, because I made it clear my offer was still on the table?" asked Piper.

"Well yeah, after what willow said about Andrew and Faith, I thought for sure you would recede the offer," Prue said.

"I almost did. It's just…" Piper started but couldn't form words.

"What she said got to you too, huh," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, it did. It sounds like This Faith girl just needs some guidance, and for somebody to care. She's a slayer, and that's a lot of responsibility to put on someone's shoulders, that young, and especially without the proper guidance. It sounds like willow and Faith are beating themselves up entirely too much, over something they had little control over," Piper rambled. "Could you imagine us having our powers at fifteen? We could have easily turned to the dark side. There was multiple times since we got our powers that we've strayed. I just hope I'm not putting us all in danger," Piper said, filling up a pot with water.

"I don't think you are. Willow said that if they left it up to Faith, she would go back to jail. That means she feels guilty about what she did. I don't think she's likely to repeat it," said Paige.

"Yeah, your right." Piper said. "Are you two going to call Henry and Coop to come for dinner?"

"Henry works until eight, but I'm going to call him and tell him to meet us at P3 after," Paige said.

"Ok, what about you, Phoebe?"

"Coop was called away this morning. I'm not sure when he'll return, but he said he'd come right to me when he's done. So you might want to make some for him, too just in case," Phoebe said, just as Willow and Tara walked in. "Are your friends coming?" she asked her niece.

"I got a hold of Dawn. She said Buffy and Faith were sleeping, but she'd let them know when they wake up. The rest of the gang said they'd be there though." Willow replied.

"Cool, dad said he'd be there around nine. Why don't you guys go up and raid mine and Leo's closet for some close while you're waiting for dinner," Piper said to the whitelighters. "And you two, no funny business in my bed. Leave it for after you to get liquored up," she said to Willow and Tara teasingly, making them blush. "And tell Leo he can come down, now. The four of them left, leaving Piper, Paige, and Phoebe.

"I think thing are going to get very interesting around here," Paige said with a chuckle.

A/N: So what did you guys think? I had a lot of trouble at the beginning of the chapter, but then the words just kind of flooded out. Hope you liked it.


	6. the start of something good

**The start of something good**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Charmed, Buffy or Angel

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for the reviews

Chapter 6

As Buffy slowly woke up, she became aware that there was a body wrapped tightly around her. She opened her eyes to look at the person in her arms. A warm smile appeared on her face, when she saw Faith sleeping. As Buffy studied the younger woman she noticed for the first time how worn out Faith was looking. Faith was pale and had dark circles under her eyes. She also noticed that every couple of minutes Faith would whimper and tighten her grip around her. Buffy made a mental note to ask Dawn how Faith had slept the night before.

Buffy looked up at the clock, but it was blocked by a note. She recognized the hand writing as Dawns. The note said 'We're all meeting Willow and her family at a club called P3 at 8. Both of you be ready to go by 7:30. Love you, Dawn.' Not wanting to wake Faith, she gently moved her left arm, and shifted the note to the left to see what time it was.

"Twenty to six. I better wake Faith up," she whispered to herself. "Faith, Faith, you need to wake up, now," she said, gently shaking the younger woman. Faith gripped tighter, but didn't wake up. Buffy shook her harder, while saying her name again. This time Faith awoke violently, throwing Buffy off the bed.

"Ouch. Faith what'd you do that for?" Buffy asked.

"Sorry, B. I thought ya we're someone else," Faith said groggily, getting off the bed, and helping Buffy up off the floor.

"It's ok Faith, but if this is what I have to expect, every time we sleep together, then we need to have a serious talk," Buffy said with a straight face. Faith stared at her with a shocked look on her face. Buffy busted up laughing, "Oh god, Faith, you, you should see your face. It's priceless."

Faith cracked a grin. "Damn, B. Didn't know ya had it in ya, but don't worry next time we sleep together, I won't throw ya out."

Buffy's laughter slowed down. "She sounded serious. Was she hitting on me? No she was probably kidding. She's just being Faith. Right?" she thought. Throwing the thought out of her head, she walked over to the bed, and sat down next to Faith. She reached into left pants pocket, and pulled out medium sized black velvet box.

"I got this for you while we were out," She said handing the box to Faith. "I know you already have one, but Willow wanted to get everybody one since most of us weren't wearing one when we went into battle. Which was pretty stupid when you think about it. We were going up vampires. Super one, but vampire's none the less," Buffy babbled. "Any who, I saw this one and I thought it would be perfect for you."

Faith opened the box to reveal a silver cross necklace. It was the same size and shape of the cross Angel had given to Buffy the first time they met, except this one had five small red rubies on it. One ruby on each end and one in the center.

"B, this is wicked," Faith said taking the cross out of the box.

"Turn it over," Buffy told her. Faith turned the cross over, to find an engraving on the back. One half of the Chosen Two.

A single tear rolled down Faith's cheek. Buffy noticed this and asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong, B. Can ya help me put it on?" Faith asked, handing the necklace over to Buffy. Faith flipped her hair to her right, and Buffy placed the cross around her neck. She gently laid her left hand on the crook of Faith neck for a few seconds before pulling away. Faith let her hair go, as she turned toward Buffy.

"How'd ya get it engraved so quickly?" Faith asked.

"Willow did it. I told her I wanted to get it engraved, and she started babbling about her being able to do it herself. It was really confusing, but what I gathered, she just had to will the silver to engrave itself." Buffy told the younger woman.

"She used magic?" Faith asked confused.

"Um, yeah. I think. When we got back she sat on her bed, with the cross and meditated. After a couple minutes the engraving was there. I think it was something the coven people taught her last summer," Buffy said, slightly confused herself. "It looks good on you, and it'll go with whatever you are going the wear tonight."

"What's going on tonight?" Faith asked.

"Dawn left a note for us," she replied pointing to the note. "Where meeting Willow and her family at a club in two hours. So we better start getting ready," Buffy said bubbly.

"B, I don't think that's…" Faith started to say, but the blond stopped her before she could protest fully.

"No Faith, you're going. I know that you want to, and I'm not going to let you stop yourself from having some fun. Tonight we are all going to celebrate. We survived the battle with the First, you're a free woman, and Willow's finally met her birth family. We have a lot to celebrate, and all of us could use a distraction from what happened in Sunnydale. Ok?" Buffy insisted, but said the last part sadly.

"Yeah alright," Faith grumbled.

"Great, I'm going to go and get ready. Be ready by seven thirty," She said, as she made her way out the door, leaving Faith to her thoughts.

"Damn it. What the hell is she doing to me? She practically demands me to do something, and I just fuckin' give in. Give her a couple more days and she'll have me completely fuckin' pussy whipped, and I ain't even getting any pussy. What the hell is up with that shit?" Faith thought as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

The laughter ringing through the Manor was like enchanting music to Piper's ears. Soon after her older sister, niece, and their significant others had left to find clothes to wear, her younger sisters had went into the living room to play with the boys. She was currently standing at the base of the steps listening to her family's laughter. Deciding that if she waited any longer to call them, the food would be cold, she yelled, "Diners ready. Come eat." She walked back into the kitchen to grab the pitcher of iced tea, and when she returned to the dining room Leo, Paige, Phoebe, and the boys were already seated. As Piper took her seat next to Leo, Prue, Andy, and Willow walked down the stairs.

"Wow, you guys look great," said Phoebe. Prue was wearing a black tank top, a simple pair of blue jeans, and a pair a black boots. The outfit was simple and modest, but showed all of her curves. She pulled her long hair up into a pony tail. Andy was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white polo shirt, a pair a sneakers.

"Just wait until you see Tara. If you think they look great, I can't wait to see what you think of her," Willow said.

"Where is Tara?" Paige asked.

"Hiding," Willow said with a sly grin.

"What did you guys do to the poor woman?" Piper asked.

"Oh, nothing really. We just kind of convinced her to wear something she normally wouldn't," Willow said, shrugging her shoulders. "Tara, come over here. You look amazing," Willow said looking toward the partially hidden steps. Tara slowly moved out from her hiding spot at the base of the steps, and walked over to Willow. Her head was hidden behind her long blond hair, which Willow and Prue had curled.

"Double wow," Phoebe said. Tara was wearing a pair of black leather pants, a tight v-neck red shirt, and a pair of black boots. If Prue's outfit showed of her beautiful body, but it was nothing compared to Tara's. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Yeah, got to agree there," Leo said, earning a playful slap from his wife.

"What'd I do?" he asked her innocently.

"You know exactly what you did. Stop staring at our niece's girlfriend or I'll turn you into a frog," Piper told her husband. Tara raised her head when she heard the word frogs.

"No frogs please," Willow squeaked, earning her confused looks from her family.

"She has a fear of f-frogs," Tara explained.

"Ok, no frogs. I promise. I'll come up with something else to turn him into," Piper joked. "Come on let's eat, before it gets cold."

"Wow, everything looks amazing Piper," Willow complemented.

"I wasn't sure what kinds of food you like, or if you were a vegetarian, so I just made a little of everything," Piper said modestly, but a little was an understatement. She had made baked chicken breasts, ham slices, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, cheddar and broccoli rice, corn, carrots, green beans, and peas.

"Well it looks great," Willow said sitting down.

"Thank you," Piper said. "What were you guys laughing about upstairs," she said as they started passing food around.

"Willow was telling some stories about her life," Prue said.

"It sounds like you were having fun," Piper said.

"Yes, we were. The hellmouth made things go haywire about ninety percent of the time, and sometime it was pretty funny afterward."

"How did the two of you meet?" Phoebe asked.

"We met in a Wicca group at UC Sunnydale during our freshmen year. Well more like saw each other there. We did actually meet until the Gentleman came to town, and Tara came to find me to do a spell. Even then we weren't properly introduced because we didn't have voices." Willow said fast and in one breath.

"Wow you talk fast, Willow," Wyatt commented.

"Yes, I tend to do that a lot, and somebody is supposed to stop me when I start," Willow said looking at her girlfriend.

"I like it when you do that. I missed it," Tara replied.

"So you're a witch too?" Phoebe asked.

"Y-yes. My m-mother taught me the craft when I was younger, and my grandmother ta-taught her," Tara said.

"That's cool. I wish Mom could have had the chance to teach us," Phoebe said sadly.

"Why didn't you have voices?" asked Piper, quickly changing the subject.

"A group of demons called The Gentleman came to town and stole them, because a human scream was the only way to kill them," Willow explains, before taking a bite of her chicken breast.

"I thought The Gentleman were just a fairytale," Leo said.

"Yeah, so did Giles, until them came," Willow said.

"Willow, finish telling us about the band candy," Prue said suddenly.

Complying with her mother's request Willow started to talk," Ok, but in order to fully understand I have to tell you the Halloween story first. It was Halloween night my junior year of high school, and Buffy, Xander, and I got stuck taking little kids trick-or-treating. We had to wear a costume so we went to this new place called Ethan's…"

A/N: I'm sorry I stopped it in a weird place. I've had this chapter written for 3 weeks, but no more words were coming out. So I'm asking for your help. Do you want more of the dinner or should I jump to the next part. Other then that please let me know what you think so far, good, bad. And if you have any questions, I'll answer them as long as the answers don't give anything away to much. Thanks.


	7. Meet and Greet

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, Charmed, or the characters.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm sorry to those of you who wanted more of the dinner, but it wasn't working. Let me know what you think.

Under age night was already in full swing by the time the sisters, Willow, Tara, and Andy got there. Leo had stayed behind to wait for the elfin nanny to baby sit the boys. They ordered drinks, and went in to the alcove. It was privet enough for the reunion, not cut off from the rest of the club, so those who didn't want to stay with the group wouldn't be obligated to.

To say Tara was nervous would be an understatement. Willow watch her as she stood up and paced the room, then sat down, and bounced her knees, only to get back up and start pacing again. Over and over and over again. Finally Willow couldn't take it anymore.

"Baby," she said when Tara had sat back down again. "You need to relax. Their going to so happy your back."

"I k-know. I'm just nervous," Tara said.

"Yep, we've noticed," Willow said; a small smile tugging at her lips. Tara looked over at Willow's family, who all were looking at the pair with smiles on their faces. "It's going to be fine. Why are you so nervous anyway?" She asked.

"I d-don't know," Tara replied. "I just am."

"Ok. How about we go get a drink," Willow suggested. She stood up pulling Tara with her. The reunited couple walk over to the bar.

"This has been one hell of a day," Paige said.

"Yeah, and it's not over yet," Phoebe said.

"Do you think there's a reason for Tara's nervousness?" Piper asked.

"Yes," replied Prue. "I was really nervous before I came back. Even though I knew you were going to happy with me back, I still was nervous."

"Why?" asked Phoebe.

"Because I had been gone for so long I wasn't sure how I was going to fit into your lives again, or how Paige was going to react to my presence," replied Prue.

"Prue, that silly. We love you. No matter how much time passes you'll always have a place in our lives," Phoebe said.

Paige look directly at her oldest sister, and said "Yeah, Prue. I'm glad you're here, too. I finally get to know my big sister."

Prue had unshed tears shining in her eyes. She was so happy that her family was happy about her return. It put all of her fear about coming back to rest. She stood up and went the far end of the couch where Paige was sitting, and gave her baby sitter a smothering hug; closely followed by Phoebe and Piper.

Andy, who was still seated at the other end of the long couch, said teasingly, "Hey what about me. Ain't you guys happy I'm back, too?"

Two out the four sisters quickly stood up, and bolted across the room at Andy, leaving Prue and Paige behind. "We're happy your back, too." Piper said; laughing along with Phoebe.

Prue noticed movement out the corner of her eyes. She turned her head and found Leo standing there with a whole group of people. "Hey guys," she said, getting the attention of her sisters and boyfriend. Having their attention she nodded her head at the entrance.

"Look who I found outside. Figured I escort them in," Leo said pointing over his shoulder. He walk over to his wife, who was now standing, and gave her a kiss. Prue walked over to Andy, as her sisters stood up, and the Sunnydale group filed into the alcove. Everybody was silent for a minute, before Prue broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Hi, I'm Prue. These are my sister's Piper, Phoebe, and Paige. My boyfriend Andy, and you've already meet Piper's husband Leo," Prue introduced them, pointing to each of them as she went along.

Giles stepped up to Prue, extending his hand to her. "Hello, I'm Rupert Giles, but everybody calls me Giles. It is very nice to meet you," he said. "I'm sorry if I sound flabbergasted, but I was under impression that you died five years ago."

"I did, but the elders made Andy and I whitelighters," Prue replied.

"Well," Giles said, sounding even more flabbergasted then before. "That is very good. How long have you been back, if you don't mind my asking?"

"No, I don't mind. I've been back for about six hours," Prue said.

"My, that's astounding," Giles sputtered out.

"Giles, chill out. You've dealt with people coming back from the dead before," Buffy said, chuckling. "Hi, I'm Buffy. Please ignore the British dude. He's being weird right now." Buffy walked over to Prue and extended her hand. "You're Willow's mom, right."

"Yep. You're the best friend, and the original slayer, right," she replied.

"Yeah. Willow told you about us?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Paige replied, extending her hand out for Buffy. "Hi, I'm Willow's aunt."

"Hi. Well guess I'll give faces to the names. You got Xander, Faith, Dawn, Andrew, Amanda, Vi, and Rona.

"Let's see if I got this right," Piper started, pointing to Xander first. "The one who fixes things the slayer's break, the last slayer called before Willow's spell, Buffy's little sister, and slayer, the pain in the ass…"

"Hey," Andrew said offended.

"Sorry," Piper said with an amused smile on her face. " You three are the baby slayers, and you're the watcher. Right?"

"Yep, you got it right. How Much did Willow tell you?" Buffy asked.

"Enough to get the gist," Phoebe said.

"Ok, cool. So where's Willow?" Buffy asked.

"She went to get a drink. I'll go get her," Prue replied, then slipped through the large group.

Willow bounced into the room a minute later. "Hi guys, glad you could come."

"You very giddy, Willow. How many drinks have you had?" she asked; a smile tugging at her lips.

"One, but that's not why I'm so giddy," Willow replied.

"Ok, what's got you so happy then?" asked Buffy, confused.

"Besides the fact that I've finally been reunited with family?" she half asked, half stated.

"Yeah," Buffy said.

"That," Willow said, pointing at the entrance. The entire group turned to look at what Willow was pointing at. Vi, Rona, Amanda, and were confused by the person standing next to Prue, but the other six were shocked.

Dawn was the first to respond. "Tara," she shrieked, as she threw herself at the supposedly dead woman.


	8. P3

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, Charmed, or the characters

A/N: Not sure how some of this turned out, so let me know. Good, or bad.

Chapter 8

The alcove was silent, except for the music playing in the club, and the muffled sobs coming from Dawn. The teenager was crying into the crook of Tara's neck, and clinging to her for dear life; afraid that if she loosened her grip, then Tara would disappear.

"Dawnie," Tara gasped out in pain, suddenly. "I may be dead, but I can still feel pain."

"Oh, sorry. Still getting used to my new strength," Dawn said sheepishly, as she pulled out of the hug. She gave Tara a smile, who was happy to see the teen no longer crying. "Wait, what do you mean dead?" She asked, when what Tara had said hit her.

Not giving the older woman a chance to respond, Dawn panicky said, "Your not dead. Your standing right in front of me. You talked to me. The dead don't talk. Well except vampires. Oh, god. Your not a vampire are you?"

"No Dawnie, I'm not a vampire," Tara replied with a smile. She slowly placed her left hand on Dawn's cheek, and wiped the drying tears off of her face. "See, I'm warm."

"That's good. Cause I'd really would hate to have to stake you," Dawn said happily; receiving a chuckle from Tara.

"If your not a vampire, then what are you?" Buffy asked defensively, finally recovering from her shock.

"Buffy," Willow said warningly.

"Willow, how do we know it's really her? How do we know that she not a demon disguised as Tara?" Buffy asked.

"Because Buffy, I would know if she wasn't the real Tara.," Willow stated, as she walked over to Tara. "Tara was made a whitelighter, and sent back to me as a reward for us defeating the First and closing the Hellmouth."

"Well that's a hell of a reward," Xander stated.

"Um, what is a whitelighter?" Buffy asked.

"They're Guardian Angles for good witches," Leo said.

"Tara's an angle?" Xander asked.

"Yep," Willow replied, grinning ear to ear.

"And your sure this is real, and not a trick?" Buffy asked.

"It real, Buffy. Tara show her," Willow said. Tara looked over her shoulder to make sure she was shielded from the rest of the club, before she orbed out and back into the same spot.

"Very cool. Ok I trust you, Willow, and since I don't sense any evil coming form her, I'll accept that she's really Tara. Now that that's out of the way…" Buffy said leaving her sentence hanging, then suddenly rushed forward, only giving Willow a fraction of a second to move away from her lover, before she pulled Tara into a bone crushing bear hug.

Tara left out an gasp before she struggled to say, "Holy goddess, Buffy, you've g-gotten really s-strong."

"Oops, sorry," Buffy said as she pulled back. Tara was free for a second before she found herself wrapped in another pair of arms. This time in Xander's.

Feeling like they were intruding, Amanda, Rona, Vi, and Andrew, quietly agreed to go get drinks. They slowly snuck out of the alcove, just as Xander was releasing Tara.

As soon as Xander moved far enough back, Giles walked forward. He wrapped Tara in a gentle hug, and whispered in her ear, "I am very happy to have you back with us, Tara." Before Giles could release the hug; Tara and Giles found themselves squashed in the middle of a Scooby group hug.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Piper had been watching Faith, as each of the Scoobies took there turn hugging Tara. As the Scoobies joined in on a group hug, she thought she saw for a split second, a look of sadness cross Faith's face, but it was gone again before Piper had had a chance to process the look.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Faith could feel that someone was watching her. Her eye darted around the small room, in search of the guilty party. She locked eyes with Piper briefly, before slipping out of the room.

Faith sat down on a stool at the bar. When the bartender came over she ordered a beer.

"Give, her a soda, Mike. On the house, and don't charge anybody that's with me tonight," Piper said; coming up behind Faith.

"Sure thing, Piper," Mike said, before going to get the drink.

"Ruin my fun, why don't ya," Faith said bitterly.

"Yeah, well you can have all the fun you want in two years. Until then it's soda. Beside the last thing you or your friends need is for one of the cops in here to pick you up for underage drinking," Piper said, as she sat down on the stool next to Faith.

"I take it Red, told you all about me," Faith stated.

"If you mean Willow, then yes," Piper said, pausing when Mike brought Faith her soda. "She filled us in on your dark past, and the fact that your currently wanted by the cops," she whispered.

"Cops ain't looking for me any more. My records been cleared," Faith said.

"Umm, how," Piper asked.

"A friend pulled some strings. Still not sure how he did it so fast, but what the hell. Right? Now I don't gotta' worry about shit," Faith said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the attitude that got you into this mess in the first place," Piper guessed.

"You don't know a god damn thing about me, or what I've done," Faith lased out.

"Then why don't you enlighten me," Piper said.

"Nah, talk to the Scoobies. I'm sure they'll fill you in on how evil I was," Faith said, not leaving any emotions slip into her words. "Sorry, love to stay and chat, but I got work to do," she said with a sly grin.

Piper watched as Faith walked onto the dance floor, and started dancing with a slim brunette woman.

"Did she give you what you wanted?" came a voice behind Piper. Buffy walked over, and sat in Faith vacant stool.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, confused.

"You were trying to get something out of her. Did she give you what you were looking for?" Buffy asked.

How much did you hear?" Piper asked.

"Enough," Buffy said cryptically. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm not sure. I don't know Faith well enough to know if I got what I was pushing for," Piper said.

"Then how about I fill you in a little. She's been… odd, I guess is the word to describe it. She's been odd since returning to Sunnydale. Sometimes she acts like her old self. The whole I don't give a damn act. Other times she completely lets her guard down, and lets what she's feeling out. Then there are the times that she's calm, and very adult. Which is very un-Faith like," Buffy tried to explain. "It's like she has three different personalities fighting against each other for dominance."

"So, which personality did she show me?" asked Piper.

"She let her guard down for a minute when she lased out at you, but then she slipped into her old self," Buffy said. "The Scooby comments is what you were probably looking for."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, confused again.

"We've all been on this forgiving kick since we destroyed Sunnydale. She didn't show any emotions in her voice, but it was the words them self that showed how she was feeling," Buffy said.

Piper was trying to follow what Buffy was saying , but what the younger woman just said was not making much sense to her. "Ok, I'm lost. Why were the words themselves her feelings, and what does your forgiveness kick have to do with them?" she asked.

"Sorry. I'm don't usually explain things. That's Giles and Willow's area of expertise. Normally I just kill thing when they tell me how." Buffy apologized, with a grin on her face. "We all had our share of blame for how thing went back then, and we've all be letting it go. When she told you to talk to the Scoobies, she accidentally gave away that she's mad at us. The question is, why."

"Wow, and I thought my family was complicated," Piper joked. "So personality is the real Faith?" she asked.

"Don't know. Guess we'll have to wait and see," Buffy said as she stood up.

"What did she mean when she said she had work to do, and how the hell did you hear our conversation from across the room?" Piper asked, quickly.

"Slayer hearing," Buffy explained. "And the chick she's dancing with is a vampire."

Piper suddenly waved her hands out in front of her. Buffy briefly wondered why Piper did, but then she noticed the music wasn't playing anymore. Looking around she saw that everybody in the club except for Faith, Vi, Rona, and Amanda were frozen.

"What the fuck," Faith voice rang out through the club. Buffy watched Faith wave her hand in front of the vamps face. "What the fuck happened?" she asked.

"I think she happened," Buffy said, pointing at Piper, as the rest of the group came running out of the alcove.

"That's wicked. How'd you do that?" Faith asked.

"It's one of my powers," Piper explained.

"Piper what's going on," Paige asked.

"Faith, was dancing with a vampire," Piper replied.

"Is that all, and here we thought something was wrong," Xander said.

"What!" Phoebe said, looking at Xander like her was crazy. "There's a vampire up from the underworld. That classifies as something's wrong."

"Why are you guys freaking out over one little vamp, and what the hell is the underworld?" Dawn asked.

"One little vamp! The last time we dealt with one little vampire, that was above ground, I got turned into a vampire," Paige said, calmly.

"You're a vampire?" Buffy asked.

"No," Paige said.

"Hey do you think anyone will notice that the vamps gone when you un-freeze them?" Faith asked suddenly.

"No don't kill it here. They flame when…" Piper started to say, but was too late. Faith already had her stake out and was plunging it through the vamps heart. Everyone, that wasn't frozen, in the room watched as the vampire un-froze, looked down at her chest, then exploded into a cloud of dust.

"That was wicked. Coulda' used you when we were in the hellmouth, P," Faith said happily.

Three out of the four Halliwell sisters, stood there in stunned disbelief. Then as one the said, "Leo, explain,"

Leo didn't get a chance to explain though, because a bang sounded through out the club. Victor walked down the stairs, with his eyes planted firmly on his eldest daughter.

"Prue?" He asked.

"Hi, dad." Prue said, as she walked over to hi, and gave him a hug.

"How are you here?" He asked.

"It's a long story," she said.

After they broke the hug she quickly introduced Andy and the Sunnydale group, minus Willow. She wanted to save that introduction until they were alone.

Once everyone was back in there places, minus the vampire, Piper un-froze the room. They disbanded into small groups. Leo quickly explained to Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Buffy, and Dawn, with Giles assistance, what the difference in the perspective vampires are. Faith went off to dance with random partners. Andrew, Rona, Vi, and Amanda went back to talking. Prue, Andy, Victor, Willow and Tara took up residence on the couch in the alcove.

"Dad," Prue started, once they were seated comfortable. "I'd like you to meet Willow Rosenberg, my daughter."

Victor looked at Prue, then to the young woman who was his granddaughter. He wasn't sure what to say, or do. First off his dead daughter was sitting next to him, very much alive, and now said dead daughter was telling him she had a daughter of her own, who looked to be in her twenties. So he said the first thing that came to mind, "Where'd she get the red hair?"


	9. A Stunning Night

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, Buffy, or any of the character from either show.

A/N: Thank you to my beta. Please Review. I want to know what you think.

Chapter 9 A Stunning Night

Prue gave a chuckle at both her father's question and the annoyed look on her daughter's face. A small smile twitched on the faces of Andy and Tara, while Victor looked at his eldest daughter like he actually wanted an answer to his question, which made Prue laugh even harder.

"Why does everybody keep asking about my hair?" Willow asked rhetorically; earning her a shoulder shrugging from her lover.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just a bit of a shock," Victor apologized.

"It's cool. It's just you're the second person who's asked about my hair today. Although Phoebe asked me if I dyed it. Which I don't, by the way," Willow said.

"Good to know. So you're the crazy laughing ladies, daughter?" Victor asked, teasingly.

"Dad," Prue chuckled.

"What? I just want to make sure I have this right," Victor said innocently.

"Alright. I guess I have some explaining to do, huh," Prue stated.

"Yeah, some explaining would be nice. As well as a few introductions," Victor said indicating to Tara and Andy.

"Oh that's right you two haven't meet before. Dad this in Andy Trudeau, my boyfriend, and Willow's father," Prue said.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," Victor said; extending his arm out to Andy, while looking at him with a flabbergasted look. "I'm sorry, but aren't you suppose to be dead, too?"

Andy snorted and then said, "Yeah I am. Actually kinda still am."

"How is that possible? How is it possible that either of you are here, Prue?" Victor asked.

"The Elders offered us the chance to become whitelighters as a gift to my sisters, and we took them up on it. Dad, I get to live my life again. As if I never died. Isn't that great?" Prue explained.

"What do you mean as if it never happened. We buried you. A lot of people know you died. How are you going to explain that away?" Victor asked.

"The elders cast a spell to make it as if I hadn't died that day. To the rest of the world I've just been in a coma for the last five years, and the same with Andy," Prue explained.

"So only we'll know what really happened?" he asked.

"Yep," Prue replied.

"What happens when you don't want to be whitelighters anymore?" Victor asked.

"Well, see, that's the beauty of it. When we don't what to be whitelighters anymore we just have to tell them, and then we get to live our lives out as humans again," she replied.

"Just like that? No strings attached?" Victor asked.

"Yep, just like that," Prue replied with a smile.

"That's great honey. I'm so glad to have you home again," he said with a smile, then got a serious look on his face. "Prue when did you have a child, because she looks to be in her twenties."

"She is in her twenties, Dad. Twenty-one today actually. Can we not discuss this tonight. I promise I will explain everything to you, to both of you, tomorrow," She pleaded, with Victor and Willow. "Tonight, lets just celebrate."

"Alright, we'll wait until tomorrow. Tonight we'll just party," Victor said.

"Great. How about we go get some drinks, and let the others know it's safe to come back in, before they hurt themselves trying to eavesdrop," Prue said.

"We weren't eavesdropping. We were just trying to make sure it was safe to come back in is all," Phoebe said, as she walked in to the alcove from behind the curtain, followed closely by Paige, and Buffy.

"Yeah, like I believe that," Prue said, with a grin.

"You can choose to believe us or not, but we weren't. Come on Will lets go get drinks. You too, Tara," Buffy said.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Prue suddenly exclaimed. "Dad, this is Tara McClay, Willow's girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? As in couple, or just friend?" Victor asked.

"As in couple," Willow replied. "Are you ok with that?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. I have no problem with that. With this family, I've come to except who my girls love. Even if it is a whitelighter, demon, cupid, or another woman," Victor said.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me knowing all of you are ok with me and Tara," Willow said.

"Your welcome, honey. Your family, we love you no matter what," Phoebe said.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Piper was sitting on a stool at the bar, when Prue joined her a few minutes later. She was watching Faith as she dance with a redheaded man on the dance floor.

"Figure her out yet?" Prue asked.

"No. It's hard to believe she played for the bad side once," Piper said.

"We've all been there at one time or another, Piper," Prue said.

"Yeah, we have, but it was different with us. It was evil that was trying to over take us. Even when Phoebe became the queen of the underworld, it wasn't a concise decision. It was the baby growing inside of her, and she fought it. She didn't kill anyone either. I just don't understand why she would do it," Piper said.

"And it was evil that over took her, too. It might not of been the same kind of evil that over took us, but it was still evil. What ever the reason for her doing what she did, you have to remember three things. She was really young when she did it, she over came it, and she's back on the right path again. She's trying to be good," Prue said.

"Yeah, I know all that. That's why I extended the offer for all of them to stay with us, eve after I found out what her and that Andrew kid did. I get why he did it. From what Willow said, the First was playing with his head. I just want to understand Faith, so we can help her not go down that path again," Piper explained.

"We, will, Piper. Just give it time. We'll get to know her, and hopefully she'll open up to us on her own. So, stop driving yourself crazy. We have enough things in our life trying to do that as it is," Prue said, with a smile on her face.

"I've missed this," Piper said.

"You've missed what?" Prue asked.

"You talking me down, when I start to obsess about something. I've missed you so much Prue, and I'm so glad your home again," Piper said, and then leaned over and gave Prue a hug.

"Don't ever leave us again," she whispered in Prue's ear.

"I won't," Prue replied.

"You promise?" Piper asked.

"I promise," Prue answered.

"Hey, what'd we miss?" asked Phoebe, who suddenly appeared with Paige beside her. "We want a hug, too."

Prue and Piper started laughing at their sister's antic's and then pulled both their baby sisters into a group hug.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Across the room, Buffy, Willow, and Tara had seated themselves in the sister's normal spot.

"Your family's great Will,' Buffy said.

"Yeah they are. I'm glad they already knew about magic. It makes it easier not having to hide who we are and what we do," Willow said.

"Yeah it does, and everybody's getting along great," replied Buffy.

"Are you sure?" Willow asked.

"Well, yeah Will. Look over by the bar. The man standing next to Xander is

Henry, Paige's husband. They've been talking since he showed up twenty minutes ago. Probably bonding over the fact that their the only non-magical men in the group," Buffy started to tell Willow.

"Over by the stage, the man standing with Andrew, Rona, Vi and Amanda is Coop, Phoebe's boyfriend. He's an actual Cupid."

"As in the big baby, who wears diapers and shoots arrows?" Willow asked.

"Yep, Andrew and the girls have been talking to Coop for awhile. Giles and Dawn are over there by the dance floor talking to Leo, probably talking about ancient books. Dawns going to be the only book smart slayer, and I was talking to your aunts while you were in the alcove. Everybody's getting along great Will."

"Except Faith," Willow said.

"Well yeah, but you know how she is," Buffy said.

"Yeah, I do. That's I'm afraid of," Willow said.

"W-what do you mean?" asked Tara.

"We're finally getting to a good place with Faith. I don't want her to feel left out," Willow said.

"You're right Willow, all of us are getting to a good place with her. We didn't have that before with her. We won't let her feel left out," Buffy said.

"You're right, we won't give her the chance. Starting right now," Willow said as she got off the couch and extended her hands to her Buffy and Tara.

"Come on - lets go dance with her."

The three of them joined Faith on the dance floor. Following Willow's lead, the sisters joined them, followed closely by the rest of their large group. It was the best birthday Willow had ever had. Not to say she hadn't had great birthdays in the past, but this year was special. This year she had all of her friends with her, she had Tara back, and she had her family again.

At the end of the night, Willow and Tara decided that they would go back to the hotel for the night and talk to the rest of their friends the next day about Piper's offer.

Buffy had moved into Faith and Dawn's room for the night, leaving Willow and Tara completely alone in a closed room for the first time since Tara's return.

Willow sat awkwardly on the bed next to Tara. She was silent for a minute before looking into Tara's eyes. "Tara," she started to say.

"Willow, don't say anything," Tara interrupted, and then leaned over and gave Willow a tender kiss. Pulling out of it, Tara whispered "I love you," into Willow's ear.

Willow said relied in kind, before capturing her lover's lips. The two of them soon found themselves lying on the bed with Tara slightly on top of Willow. Tara broke the kiss and looked into Willow's eyes before recapturing her lips. She moved her left hand down Willow's body and rested it on her hip, before moving it back up a little.

Tara played with the hem of Willow's shirt for a few minutes, before gently slipping her hand under it. The first touch of Tara's hand on her bare stomach sent jolts of excitement throughout Willow's body. She moved her hand to the back of Tara's head, and put more force into their kisses.

Tara took this as a sign to move forward, so she moved her hand farther up Willow's shirt until her hand was resting on Willow bra covered breast. She gently swiped her thumb over Willow's hard nipple. She expected had expected Willow to moan like normally did when she did that, but instead Willow froze. She looked down into her lover's eyes and found tears.

"Baby what's wrong?" she asked gently. Not getting a response from Willow, she pulled her hand from under Willow's shirt and placed it on her shoulder.

"Sweetie, please tell me what's wrong."

"I'm sorry," Willow responded.

"What are you sorry about?" she asked.

"It's just… when you touch me it feels so good. It reminds me of how it was before you died, and how I lost you. I flashed back to that horrible day in our room. I don't want to lose you again," Willow cried.

"Sweetie, I'm not going anywhere," Tara said. "Maybe you were right. We should slow down a little. Rebuild what my d-death took from us."

"That's probably a good idea. I don't want to keep having flash backs every time we try and make love to each other," Willow said. "For now I'll just stick with my Tara cuddles."

"Good idea. How about we change and go to sleep?" Tara suggested.

"Yeah, sleep sounds good. It's been a long day," Willow replied.

"Yes it has," Tara said, as she got off the bed.

The two of them changed into the pajamas Willow had bought earlier that day, and laid down. They snuggled up under the covers. The last thing Willow remembered before she fell asleep was Tara whispering 'Happy birthday, baby' in her ear.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A few doors down, Faith was arguing with Buffy and Dawn over her sleeping naked, and the pajamas Dawn had bought her.

"There is no way in fuckin' hell I'm wearing them," Faith yelled.

"Well you ain't sleeping naked. So put the damn things on," Buffy yelled back.

Faith stared down at the bright pink pajamas (decorated in baby blue bunnies) with a look of distaste. "I ain't putting them on. I'll just sleep in my fuckin underwear."

"Just put them on Faith," Buffy said.

"No way in hell, B."

"Faith, for crying out loud. We don't want to see you naked, so put the damn things on," Buffy said as she sat on Dawn's bed.

"No."

"Faith, put on the pajamas, or I'll tell Willow what you said about her last night," Dawn said.

A look of panic crossed Faith's face, before grudgingly saying, "Fine, I'll put the damn things on, but you owe me big time."

She had her shirt half off when she heard Buffy yell, "Faith, go to the damn bathroom."

"Buzz killer," Faith said as she moved toward the bathroom.

As soon as the door was closed Buffy turned to her sister and asked, "What did she say about Willow?"

"You tell and I'll kick you ass, D," Faith voice came from the bathroom.

"Damn slayer hearing. It's a bitch sometimes," Buffy grumbled.

"Yeah, but it's so cool, too," Dawn said.

"Tell me that again when you overhear something you don't want to," Buffy said.

"Faith's right. You are a buzz killer," she said.

"Oh, hush," Buffy said.

"Hey do you think Willow and Tara are having sex?" Dawn asked.

"Dawn," Buffy squeaked. Then looked toward the bathroom, from which Faith was emerging.

"Don't look at me, B. I was thinking the same thing," Faith said. Then she noticed that they were trying very hard not to laugh, but failing miserably at it. "Go ahead, laugh it up. You tell anybody about this and I'll kick both your asses. Got it?."

She didn't get a response though, because they were laughing too hard to speak.

After a few minute the two sisters calmed down and Buffy went to take a shower and get ready for bed. When she returned half an hour later, she found Dawn already asleep, and spread across the entire bed.

"Great. Now where am I going to sleep?" she mumbled.

"You can sleep with me. I promise I won't kick again," Faith said sincerely.

"Alright, as long as you don't hog all the blankets," she replied, and then crawled into the bed next to Faith. She rolled on to her left side facing away from Faith, who was lying on her back.

Buffy knew this was her chance to ask Faith about what she said to Piper earlier, but wasn't sure how she wanted to go about it. After ten minutes she decided to just ask her about it. Rolling over to face Faith, she asked, "Faith, can I ask you something?"

"Since when do you ask for permission to do anything, B?" Faith asked sarcastically.

"Faith, I being serious," she replied.

"Fine, ask away."

"Why are you mad at us?"

"What are ya talking about?" Faith asked annoyed.

"I heard you talking to Piper earlier," she replied.

"Yeah, so?"

"Faith, please. Why are you mad at us?" Buffy pleaded.

"I ain't mad at ya, B."

"Faith, damn it. Stop with this stupid game, and answer the damn question," Buffy snapped.

"What the hell do you want me to say, B?"

"I want you to tell me what was going through your head tonight." Buffy said.

Faith was quiet for a minute, as she tried to get her thoughts in order.

Knowing Buffy wasn't going to let her go to sleep until she told her she said,

"I was feelin' outta place. Like I still don't belong in your group."

"You are apart of our group. Haven't we proven we want you here with us?" Buffy said.

"Yeah, it's been great the last few days, but I know it's not going to last. I'll do something to fuck everything up, and then you all are going to hate me again."

"I wish I knew what to say to get you to believe that we really do care about you. Things are different now. We were all young and stupid back then. Please believe me. It wont be like it was back then," Buffy said.

Faith responded by leaning forward and capturing Buffy's lips. It wasn't anything like how Buffy thought Faith would kiss. She imagined Faith would be the kind to kiss hard and primal, not soft and sweet.

Buffy pulled out of the kissed, stunned, and then said, "Faith."

"Sorry," Faith said.

"I'm not gay," Buffy said as she started to regain her senses.

"Neither am I Buffy," Faith responded.

"But you kissed me."

"Yeah. I'm bi, B, not gay," Faith said.

"Fine, I'm not bi. Why did you kiss me?"

"Cause I felt like it. Don't tell me ya didn't like it," Faith said.

"And what if I didn't?" Buffy asked.

Faith shrugged her shoulders, and then rolled over. "Night, B."

Buffy gazed at Faith's back, wondering what the hell had just happened. Out loud, though, she simply said, " Good night, Faith."


	10. Broken Hearts

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, Buffy, or any of the shows characters.

Chapter 10: Broken Hearts

The sun was just starting to rise, when Piper woke up the next morning. She briefly wondered why she was awake so early, but then she smelled freshly brewed coffee. The memory of the day before floated into her head, and her heart began to ach with a mixture of happiness and sorrow. She had missed waking up to the smell, which indicated her big sister was awake, and she was so happy to have her back with them again.

Piper quietly slid out of bed, so she wouldn't wake Leo, and followed the smell to the kitchen. When she got to the door way, she saw Prue sitting at the table facing away from her, with a cup of coffee and the morning paper. Piper leaned against the doorway, and took the sight in. She couldn't help but think that it was like they had never lost her.

Without putting her paper down, Prue said, "Good morning. Are you going to continue staring at the back of my head, or are you going to join me?"

Piper snapped out of her stupor, and joined Prue at the table. "Sorry."

"It's all right, Piper. I know it must be weird seeing me sit here, after not having me here for so long," Prue said.

"Actually, I was just thinking it's like we never lost you. You've been back less the a day, and your already slipping into your old routine. Up before the rest of the house, and a fresh pot of coffee made. That was one of the biggest things that reminded me and Phoebe that you weren't with us anymore. We'd wake up every morning and you weren't down here reading the paper, drinking coffee, or rushing of to work," Piper said, as tears started to slip down her face.

Prue got out of her chair and pulled her sister into a hug. She whispered in her ear, "I missed you too, Piper. I'm home now and I'm not going anywhere again.

"I love you, too," Piper said as the two of them separated. Prue went over to the coffee pot and pored Piper a cup. She took her seat and handed Piper her coffee, and then asked, "So what are your plans today?"

"Um, Leo, Henry, and Coop are taking the boys out for a guy's day. I was going to spend the cleaning, but now I just want to spend it with you. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds great. We'll ship Andy off with the boys, call Phoebe and Paige, and have a girl's day in."

"Sounds like we have a plan," Piper said. "Oh, we also have that big meeting with the Elders and PTB is today at three," Piper said. Then wondered aloud, "What the hell are the PTB anyways. That damn elder is too damn cryptic. I hate cryptic."

"Powers That Be," Prue said.

"What?" Piper asked, giving her sister a confused look.

"PTB stands for the Powers That Be," Prue said.

"Ok. What are the Powers That Be, and what kind of a name is that?" said a very annoyed Piper.

"I don't really know. I did over hear a couple of Elder's talking about it though. Apparently no human has ever seen the PTB, so the fact that they're coming into our world to speak with Willow and her friends is a very big deal."

"Did you hear why they were coming?" Piper asked.

"No, I didn't. I wish I had though, but we'll find out this afternoon."

"Speaking of Willow and her friends. Do you think they'll take us up on our offer?" Piper asked.

"I don't know. I hope they do, but I get the feeling that if Willow's friends don't want to, she won't either. We only have one extra bedroom, so we do need to figure out where we're going to put them all just incase they do decide to stay here," Prue said.

"Well, we have the basement that we can fix into a bedroom or two, and we can always turn the attic into a room. We'll make it work some how," Piper said. "Do you want to call Willow and invite her over too? It'll be a really good way to get to know her."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm really glad she came looking for me," Prue said.

"So am I. It's going to interesting here now though. Chris is just coming into his powers, and we really need to help Willow get a control over hers. She has a lot of power. I don't really understand where it's all coming from," Piper said.

"A lot of her magic isn't from us. Most of it is earth magic that she's absorbed," Prue explained.

"How do you know that?"

"I've been watching her since I died." Prue said.

Piper looked like she wanted to ask Prue something, but instead she just said, "I'm going to start breakfast. Is there anything you want?"

"No. I'm sure what ever you make, I'll love," Prue responded happily, before standing up to help her little sister with breakfast.

When Leo walked into the kitchen half an hour later, he found them on the floor together laughing, covered from head to toe with flour, eggs, and chocolate chips. When they noticed Leo was in the room with them, they gave him identical deer caught in the headlights look, before busting up laughing again. Leo flashed them a smile before turning out of the kitchen to go wake the boys up.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After waking up to find her room empty, and a note on her bed stand that said that Buffy and Dawn were going to the gym, Faith started wandering the halls in search of something to do. In her increasing boredom she started to think about the kiss she had planted on Buffy the previous night.

Faith wasn't sure why she had kissed Buffy, but the more she thought about the kiss, the more she realized that she kissed her, because she has feeling for her. The realization of this confused her, because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do about them. Until she met Robin, she had never stuck around for more then a night, and even though there relationship had been more of a bet, then a real relationship, it had opened her heart up to the idea of finding love.

Now she had to figure out if she wanted to act on her feelings, or keep her heart safe. Her mind was spinning with thoughts about getting with Buffy. One thought stuck out in particular. The fact that Buffy had never shown any interest in woman, so why would she even give Faith a shot. Then she thought of Willow, who hadn't shown interest in women when she had been in Sunnydale the first time, and let she was currently in love with one, so maybe there was a chance.

Faith decided to go visit the red head, with the hope that she would be the person to help her figure out what she wanted. All the nerve she had worked up to talk to Willow, vanished as soon as she stood in front of her door. She stood at that door for five minutes trying to gather the courage to knock, while mentally beating herself up for putting herself in her current situation, when the door suddenly opened to reveal Willow.

"Are you going to come in, or are you going to stand out here for another five minutes," Willow asked.

Faith gave Willow a flabbergasted look, before shaking her surprise off and walking into the room as she said, "I pretty sure you just broke the don't openly invite people in, rule."

"Yeah, I would have if we weren't staying in a public building, and besides, I knew it was you," Willow replied.

"How?" Faith asked.

"I felt you," Willow replied, as she sat down on her bed.

"Oh yeah. You're the slayer low jack now. How does that work anyways?" Faith asked.

"I'm now linked with every slayer in the world," Willow tried to explained.

"What do ya mean you're linked to us?" Faith asked.

"Umm," Willow started to say as she tried to find a way to explain it to Faith. "Oh, I got it. The mystical power inside of you, that makes you a slayer, is sending off a signal, which my magic is picking up on. Right now your's and Buffy's signals are the only ones I can tell who there coming from."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I was around you, as slayers before I did the spell," Willow said shrugging her shoulders.

Faith started to become uncomfortable, when she noticed that Willow was staring at her, like she was trying to see into her soul.

Faith was silent for a few moments until she finally asked, "What?"

Willow snapped out of the trance she had fallen into and sheepishly said, "Sorry. It's just when you first came to Sunnydale you never asked questions if you didn't understand something. You just brushed it off like you did, or say something like five by five."

"Hey it's a catchy phrase, and I still say it," Faith said, acting offended. When Willow gave her a comforting smile, she went over to the bed and sat next to her. "I ain't the same person I was back then, Red."

"No. You most definitely are not," Willow said bubbly.

The two of them fell into an awkward silence. Faith noticed Willow's open laptop, which was lying on the bed behind them. "Did I interrupt ya?" she asked; pointing at the computer.

Willow looked at what Faith was pointing and then said, "Nothing that can't wait a little while. I was just looking for some of the council funds."

"Did ya find any?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, I think I did. One of them any ways. The Council was pretty stupid when it come to technology. The account wasn't safeguarded, and anyone who is on the board can access it. I ran a check on the board members and they were all kill in the explosion last year, and there are only a handful of active Watchers left."

"So, how are you going to get the money, then?" Faith asked.

"Oh that's easy. I gave Giles a promotion," Willow said with a grin.

"You put Giles on the board. How?"

"I didn't put Giles on the board. I gave him Quentin's job," Willow said.

"How the fuck did ya manage to do that?"

"It was really easy. I just hacked into the Council's system and made it look like the last thing the board did before the were killed, was to fire Quentin, and promote Giles."

"You're a genius Red. So how much money we taking about?"

"Five hundred million."

"Holy shit!"

"Yeah, holy shit's right," Willow agreed.

"So, what bring you by my humble hotel room?" Willow asked, wanting to know why the younger woman came to her room.

"Huh," Faith asked, completely forgetting why she came.

"Why are you here? I figured you and Buffy would be training."

"Oh, umm," Faith said awkwardly. "I, a… was just wondering… umm…" Her awkward rambling was interrupted when the bathroom door opened, revealing a freshly showered Tara.

"Hi, Faith," Tara said.

"Hi," She replied. "I gonna go." She said suddenly as she stood up and started to head for the door.

Willow grabbed Faith's hand and said, "Faith, no. You obviously came here for a reason, and I want to help. Please stay."

Realizing she had walked in on something, Tara quickly said, "I'm going to go and find Buffy and Dawn." She gave Willow a tender kiss before walking out the door, before either of them could protest.

Willow tugged on Faith's arm, indicating that she wanted her to sit back down. Tara kissing Willow had given Faith an idea on how to get the answers she wanted, without telling Willow she'd kissed Buffy. So as she sat back down she asked, "Who kissed who first?"

Willow was surprised at Faith willingness to talk, and confused by the question she asked. "Huh," was all she managed to say.

Faith gave Willow a small smile before elaborating. "Your first kiss with Tara," she explained. "Did she kiss you, or did you kiss her?"

"Oh," Willow said. A bright smile formed on her face as the she began to remember the kiss in question. "She kissed me."

"Were you dating, just trying to figure out how you felt, or did it come out of nowhere?" Faith asked, as she reclined backwards so she was propped up on her elbows.

"Um, we were in the figuring it out stage, or a least I was. From the first time we did a spell I could feel this pull towards her. I thought it was the magic, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized there was more to it," Willow explained.

"How long after you meet did she kiss you?" Faith asked.

"About two months. It actually happened about a week before you woke up from your coma. We were hiding out from the Initiative, and Tara invited me to stay with her, after we did a spell to locate demons. We were lying on her bed talking about the demon that was on the loose, when she just leaned forward and kissed me," Willow said.

"What did you do?" Faith asked.

"I smiled at her, and then I ran," Willow chuckled.

"You ran?"

"Yeah. Right out her dorm. I walked around campus for a while, trying to figure out if I really felt like that toward her. When I returned to the dorm, she was sitting on the bed crying. I walked over and kissed her. We stayed up half the night talking, and we started dating after that," Willow told the younger woman.

"Where you in to Tara before the kiss?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, I was," Willow said.

"Did you notice other women before Tara?"

"No, and if I did, I didn't even realize I was doing it," Willow replied. "Faith, why are asking about my first kiss with Tara? Is this why you came?"

"Sorta, thanks, Red. I'm gonna go. Talk to ya later," Faith said as she stood up and then headed for the door, leaving Willow sitting on the bed confused.

"Wait you didn't answer my other question," Willow yelled, but Faith was already out of the room and down the hall.

"What the hell was that about?" Willow asked aloud to herself.

"What the hell was what about?" Buffy's voiced suddenly floated through the room, causing Willow to scream and fall off the bed.

Buffy started laughing as she walked over to Willow to help her up. "Sorry Will, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok," Willow said as she sat back on the bed.

"Did I see, Faith darting from your room?" Buffy asked, as she sat in the chair across from the bed.

"Yeah, she just left. She was acting weird, and she left before I could figure out what she even wanted," Willow said.

"She didn't kiss you, did she?" Buffy asked jokingly.

Willow shot Buffy a confused look before asking, "No she didn't. Why would you ask me something like that, Buffy? I have Tara back, and I would never do something like that to hurt her."

"Sorry Willow. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just she kinda kissed me last night before we fell asleep," Buffy said.

"Oh, so that's why she was asking about our first kiss," Willow said more to herself then Buffy.

"Who was asking about who's first kiss?" Buffy asked.

"Faith was asking about mine and Tara's first kiss," Willow clarified. "What did you do when she kissed you?"

"I pulled away, and told her I'm not gay."

"What did she say, after that?"

"She said that she wasn't either, that she was bi. Then she was like, don't tell me you didn't like it," Buffy said imitating Faith. "Then I was like 'what if didn't,' and she just shrugged her shoulders, rolled over, and said good night."

"Did you like it?" Willow asked.

"It was ok I guess. Not how I thought she'd kiss, but I'm not gay."

"But you thought about how she would kiss," Willow pointed out.

"Sorta, but it wasn't like I wanted to actually kiss her. It was more wondering what it would be like, and Faith was my minds test dummy. I'm not gay, Willow."

"So you said, but I didn't know I was gay, until I meet Tara. I was with Oz, and thought about guys before that."

"Yeah, but that was different, Will," Buffy said.

"How so?"

"You didn't think about girls before you meet Tara, and you didn't have a gay best friend to bring the subject to your mind. I was freaked when you came out, but after I got used to the two of you being together, I started wondering if I could like girls and not even realized it. I though about being with a girl, even took notice to a few girls around campus, but I don't feel that pull toward women like I do with men."

"You didn't feel anything when she kissed you?"

"No. There was nothing there."

"We have a problem then, because she was asking me about the beginning of mine and Tara's relationship, so I think that she really likes you. Did you do anything to make her think she might have a shot with you?"

"I don't know, maybe," Buffy said looking a little guilty.

"Buffy?" Willow said, giving her best friend her resolve face.

"It wasn't big. I gave her the necklace that you inscribed and kissed her on the head because she was crying. That's all," Buffy said.

"Well you need to tell her you don't like her like that, and I can't believe were having this conversation about Faith."

"I know she's so different now then she was back then. It's really hard to understand her though, because she keeps flip flopping between personalities."

"I think that's part of the problem. We keep trying to understand her, instead of getting to know her."

"Yeah you're probably right. So how did it go between you and Tara last night?" Buffy asked with an evil grin. "Did you get lucky?"

Willow groaned, and then flopped backwards onto the bed. "No, it felt so good having her next to me again, but I totally freaked out on her."

"Ok, explain please." Buffy said.

Willow sat back up and looked at Buffy. "It was going great. We were kissing, and Tara had her hand up my shirt touching my, you know," Willow blushed as she pointed toward her breast. "And she started um, you know, when I flashed back to that day in our room, and I just froze."

"How did Tara react to that?"

With a smile, Willow said, "Like Tara," as if that explained everything, but the look on Buffy's face said she needed more to go on. "She was understanding, and agreed that we should take it slow, and rebuild what was taken from us."

"Is that really what you want, Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. I want to have what we had before, but I want to make love to her too. It took me so long to be able to give myself to Tara when we first started to date. I don't want to wait that long again, but Tara had her hand up my shirt and all I could think about was the worst day of my life. How the hell are we going to get back to how it used to be, if I keep seeing that day, Buffy?"

After moving form the chair to the bed, Buffy wrapped her arms around Willow, who had stated crying. "You are the strongest person I know, Willow. I've seen it so many times since I staked my way into your life. When I first came to Sunnydale you only had two friends, and when Jessie turned, instead of blaming me for showing you what lived in the night, you fought along side me."

"You started using magic, too help me, and you quit it cold turkey. Which we now know wasn't the best plan, and I'm sorry we made you do it instead of finding a better solution, but you did it. Even when Amy gave you some of her magic, you fought it."

"When you left for England with Giles, I didn't think you would come home to us again, but you did. You faced returning to the people you hurt and the home you shared with Tara, because you wanted to help us fight whatever was coming. You even braved love again. You have her here with you again. Give it time. Tara isn't going anywhere, because she loves you. She'll help you work through whatever's going on in the head of yours and I guaranty, you two will live a long, happy, and sated life together."

"Are you sure?" Willow asked.

"I'm positive," Buffy replied.

"Thanks Buffy, I love you."

"I love you, too, and don't you ever forget it."

There tender moment was interrupted when Tara walked through the door.

"Speak of the angel," Buffy said bubbly, when she saw Tara. Willow chucked, and started wiping her tears away.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Giles wants us to meet him in his room. He s-said he has something important to discuss," Tara said.

"Ok, I'm going to run to room quick and change and then I'll meet you there," Buffy said. After she opened the door to leave she turned around and mouthed, 'talk to her,' and then she left.

"Are you alright sweetie," Tara asked, as she brushed her hand against Willow's cheek.

"I'm fine, now. Buffy was just helping me with a little problem I have," Willow replied.

"This little problem you have, wouldn't have anything to do with last night, would it?" Tara asked.

"Maybe," Willow said, before asking hesitantly. "You don't mind that I was talking to Buffy about it, do you?"

"No, Willow. I d-don't mind," Tara answered with a soft smile. "Never be afraid to talk to Buffy about anything that concerns us. I knew and accepted when we started this relationship that B-Buffy would always be the one you would g-go to if you couldn't come to me. I love you.

Willow moved forward, wrapped her arms around Tara, and then replied, "I love you, too."

"Was Buffy able to help?" Tara asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you kiss me and find out," Willow said, as she looked into Tara's eyes. She leaned forward and gently placed her lips onto Tara's. Willow had intended for the kiss to simple and reassuring, but it quickly became a kiss of need and hunger. Without breaking the kiss she pulled Tara backwards onto the bed; forgetting that her open laptop was still lying there. A corner of the laptop jabbed into her back as she lay backwards onto the bed with Tara above her.

Willow broke out of the kiss and then said, "Ow." After moving the laptop she looked at Tara and started laughing. "I'm sorry, but a least I didn't freeze up this time. That's progress right?"

"Yeah it is. Willow, what where you thinking yesterday when we were kissing a Piper's house?" Tara asked.

Willow gave Tara a weird look before replying, "I guess I wasn't thinking. I just let myself get caught up in the moment. Why do you want to know that?"

"Because yesterday you were the one with your hand creeping up my robes, not the other way around. It might help us figure out what going on," Tara replied. "What were you thinking about last night?"

"I was thinking it felt like I never lost you, and then that's when I flashed back to that day. I don't want to lose you again."

"Honey, I'm not g-going anywhere. I promise," Tara said, and then gave Willow a tender kiss. She pulled away from Willow quickly and then said, "We have to go. Everybody's probably in Giles' room already."

"Alright, if we have, too. Ooh I can't wait to see Giles face when I tell him I promoted him to the head of the Council."

"Wasn't that the plan?" Tara asked confused, before getting off the bed and pulling Willow with her.

"No. We were just going to take the money from the old Council, and use it to form our own slayer's council," Willow said as the two of them started walking to Giles' room.

"Are you sure it is better this way. The Council has a lot of badness attached to its name," Tara inquired.

"It does, but it also has a lot of connections as well. It'll make opening the slayer's school much easier and quicker. We might even have it opened by the fall this way," Willow replied.

Tara was going to say something, but Willow's phone started ringing. To give Willow a little privacy, Tara moved away from her.

When Willow joined her a minute later she said, "That was Prudence, she wants me to come over, and spend the day with her, and my aunts."

"Are going to go?" Tara asked.

"Yeah I am. Do you want to come with me?"

"No. You should spend some time alone with them, before the meeting today. I'll stay here with Buffy," Tara replied.

"Crap! I completely forgot about the meeting, and I have to tell them about Piper's offer, too," Willow exclaimed.

"Well you can tell them now," Tara said, pointing to Giles' door.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The entire gang was already crowded into Giles's small hotel room, when Willow and Tara arrived. They quickly took a seat next to Buffy on the bed.

From his spot on the floor Xander asked, "What's up G-man? You look like you have something bad to tell us."

"Yes, well. I suppose you could say that consider what happened the last time I told you this," Giles said, before pausing. "I'm afraid I must return home for a bit."

"You're leaving us again," Buffy said.

"I'm am sorry, Buffy. Hopefully it will only be for a few week, but I can no longer justify being in this country."

"What do you mean can't justify for being here. Oh course you can," Buffy said.

"My visa runs out in a few days and I have not been able to extend it. I will return home, file for a more permanent one, and be back in a few weeks," Giles explained.

"But what if you can't get a new one?" Dawn asked this time.

"I don't think he'll have a problem getting a new visa," Willow said. "I'm sure being the head of the Watcher's Council means he can go any where with no problems. Right Giles?"

"Well yes, but what does that have to do with me?" Giles asked.

"You've been promoted to the head of the Watchers Council," Willow said.

"I thought the Council was destroyed. How can he be promoted if there isn't a Council anymore?" Vi asked.

"The Council building and the board members were destroyed, but not the Council itself. All we need to do is claim it for ourselves, which I already did. By giving Giles, that pig Quentin's job."

"That's quite clever of you, Willow. Indeed that will help me return to this country with little problems, and it will aid in making the school certified," Giles said.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Willow mumbled to herself. Tara rubbed her hand over Willow's back.

Giles gave Willow a soft smile before turning to the group and saying, "I thought now would be a good time to hash out idea's on the school, and if there are any rules we want to continue following from the old Council."

"Actually, Giles I have a couple of thing I need to tell everybody before that. If it's alright," Willow said.

"Very well, the floor is all yours," Giles replied.

"Thanks. The Elder's and the PTB want to meet with us today at three," Willow said.

"Who are the Elder's?" Xander asked.

"What do they want?" Buffy asked.

"Wow," Giles said.

All three questions came at once. Willow slowly processed the questions that were thrown at her. She looked at Xander and answered hi question first.

"Elders are upper level whitelighters. There Tara's bosses. They're Prue and my aunts PTB."

She then looked at Buffy, and answered her question with a simple, "I don't know."

The she looked at Giles with a quizzical look and asked, "What was the 'wow' for?"

"It is an extraordinary event for the Powers That Be to come into our world. No mortal being has ever claimed to see them. It is absolutely extraordinary," Giles said flabbergasted.

"Is it really that big of a deal, Mr. Giles," Amanda asked.

"Yes dear. It is a very big deal."

"I wonder why they wish to meet with us," Dawn said.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe because we saved the world, changed the slayer line, and wiped an entire town off the map," Willow said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah, there is that," Dawn said.

Faith let out a snort at Dawn's statement, and then looked to Willow and asked, "What's the other thing ya need to tell us?"

"Huh, oh yeah. Piper has made an offer for us. She would like us to stay with at the Manor."

"All of us?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. When she asked me and Tara to stay, and I told her I didn't want to leave you, so she extended the offer to all of us," Willow replied.

"Do you want to move in with them?" Buffy asked.

"Yes I do, but only if you do to. All of you," Willow replied, looking at everybody in the room.

"Alright, I'm in," Buffy said.

"So am I," Dawn replied.

"Me too. Anything to make you happy Will," Xander said.

Willow looked at Vi, Rona, Amanda, and Andrew, and asked, what about you guys?"

The four of them looked at each other before Amanda replied, "Um, actually, Vi, Rona, and I have talked to our families and they want us to come home for the summer, and we've decided to go."

"That sounds splendid. I do hope you enjoy it. Will you be returning to us when we have to school open?" Giles asked.

"Hell yeah, we'll be back before that," Rona replied.

"Alright, we're going to miss you girls," Buffy replied.

"What about you Andrew?" Willow asked.

"I'm leaving, too," Andrew said, looking awkwardly at Tara. "I believe my talents are no longer needed. I'm going to my parent new place."

"To bad you were just starting to grow on us," Xander said.

Everybody else remained quiet. Nobody wanted to hurt his feelings but they were silently saying thank god. None of them were even sure why they let the annoying man stay with them, after they got the info they needed from him. Andrew seemed happy that Xander had said something, but Faith noticed him glance at Tara again.

She understood why he was leaving. He couldn't be around Tara knowing that he was partly to blame for her death, even though he hadn't been there. It had been his, Jonathan, and Warren's actions that led to the woman's death.

Faith didn't notice Willow talking to her, until Buffy flicked her ear. Faith looked at her and then asked, "What the hell was that for, B?"

"Willow was talking to you," the blonde replied.

"Oh, sorry, Red. What were ya saying?"

"I was just asking if you were coming, too," Willow replied.

"Think I'm gonna sit this one out, Red," Faith said.

"No your not. Everybody has to agree or I'm going to refuse the offer," Willow said.

"Red, I don't think she likes me."

"Faith, please," Willow pleaded.

Faith could see how much Willow wanted this, and she couldn't deny the redhead, with the look she was giving her. "Fine, I'm in," she said, with the hope that it wasn't going to suck as bad as she thought.

Willow was ecstatic that all of her friend agreed, but she knew Faith didn't want to do this. She hoped that being around her family would be good for Faith.

After Andrew excused himself, claiming there was a new comic book out that he want, the group started to talk about what they wanted and didn't want for the new council and the school. They were talking for about an hour before Willow excused herself to go to her new found family.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Buffy followed Faith back to there room after the group left Giles' room. Faith knew the blond was following and she was trying to prepare herself for what ever Buffy had to say.

The blonde entered the room and immediately said, "Faith, we need to talk."

"So, speak," Faith said.

"Look, I'm gonna give it to you straight, no pun intended. Ya know what, pun intended. I'm straight Faith. I don't like women. I'm sorry if this hurts you, but there is no chance for us. I think it's great if you want a real relationship, because no matter what you think you deserve it. I hope that we can still continue building our friendship," Buffy said.

"Are you done?" Faith asked.

"Yeah. I think that's all," Buffy replied.

"A little full of yourself, B. It was one little kiss. What makes you think I want to run off with you and get married," Faith said.

"It's illegal for us to even get married," Buffy retorted. "So the kiss was just a kiss. You don't want anything from me?"

"It was just a kiss."

"So why'd you do it then?"

"Because I felt like it," Faith said.

"Alright. I'm going to get food. You want to go too?" Buffy asked.

"No, wouldn't want you to think it was a date," Faith joked, earning herself a death glare from Buffy. "Just kiddin', but I'm not really hungry."

"Faith, your always hungry. Come on, please. I promise I won't think it's a date."

Faith gave the blonde a smile, but her heart was breaking on the inside. She agreed to an early lunch, with the sole thought to keep up the ruse that she had no feelings for her. She found that she really enjoyed just being with her, even if there wasn't a chance between them.


	11. Getting to Know You: Part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, or Charmed

A/N: I am really sorry about the long delay. This chapter was part of a much larger one, but it is extremely fragmented. So I decided to post what is finished. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter done soon. Please review.

Chapter 11

"Hi, Willow. Come on in," Paige said, bubbly.

"Thanks," Willow replied, as she walked across the threshold. "Thanks. You know you shouldn't openly invite somebody into your house. I could have been a vampire."

"Why? If a demon wants to get in this house, it won't wait for an invitation," Paige said.

"Normal demons yeah, but vampires can't enter your home without an invitation. Even if it was your house before you died. Instead of saying come in, you con say something like, enter if you can, or you can say nothing at all and just motion for that person to come in. Although it doesn't really matter because it's the day, and you know it's sunny, but I wanted to tell you that just in case," Willow explained, as they moved toward the conservatory, where Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were already sitting.

"Really? When I was a vampire I was able to enter the house without an invite."

Willow stopped just as they entered the conservatory, and looked at Paige in alarm. "You're a vampire!" She exclaimed. "But your standing in the sun, unless you have special windows. Do you have a soul, because Angel has a soul, and so did Spike so that would explain why you haven't try to kill…" She was cut of by Paige's hand.

"Breath, Willow. I'm not a vampire. I said I was one," Paige said, and then dropped her hand away from her mouth.

"But that's not possible. Once you become a vampire there's never going back. Your dead. That's it," Willow said.

"I think this is what Leo was talking about the other day," Piper said, from her seat by the garden doors. "The magic behind our vampires, clearly isn't the same behind Willow's vampires."

"So, what's the difference?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the way they were created. How are vampires made, Willow?" Piper asked.

"Well a vampire drinks a victim's blood, and then just before they die they make their victim drink there blood, then they die. Then in either a few hour or a few days they rise. They basically become an animated corpse. What about your vampires."

"Ours are simply. You get bite by a vampire , you become a vampire. If you kill somebody you stay a vampire, but if you have magical sisters they kill the queen and you get to be a human again," Paige explain.

"So your vampires are kind of like a virus, that's curable if you know somebody who can," Willow said.

"Um, Yeah. Pretty much," Piper replied. "How did you two get on this topic already?"

"I invited her in," Paige said. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe looked at Paige as she plopped down on the wicked love seat next to Piper, and then looked to Willow.

"Take a seat, Willow, and please explain what she talking about," Prue said.

"She invited me in, so I told her she shouldn't openly invite somebody into your house because they could be a vampire," Willow said as she sat down in a wicker chair next to her mother. "A vampire can only enter your home if you openly invite them in."

"Interesting," Phoebe said. "That a good thing to know."

"Yeah it is," Willow replied.

"You seem calmer then yesterday," Piper remarked in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had slipped into the room."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to let my magic out. I was just so nervous and I didn't seem to have any control over it," Willow apologized.

"It's ok sweetie," Phoebe said. "We understand what it's like to have powers that you can't control sometimes."

"It's more then just not being able to control it," Willow said. "My magic has been closer to the surface since I did the slayer spell, and it feels different."

"Different, how?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. It's really weird, but I don't think I can feel the dark magic anymore. I haven't had to fight to keep it away like I have for the last year, and I was able to engrave a silver cross for Buffy with less of a struggle, plus I'm doing thing that I've never done before" Willow explained.

"You mean the invisibility?" Asked Paige. Willow nodded her head yes.

"Oh, well that might be your active powers coming to the surface. The binding spell Grams put on you is probably starting to unravel," Prue said.

"How do you know Grams put a binding spell on her?" Piper asked.

"Logical guess. We should probably talk to her. See what kind it was, and how to reverse it." Prue stood up, pulled Willow to her feet. "Come on. We have something we want to show you," she said, and pulled Willow to the stairs. 

* * *

Buffy decided to take Faith to Hong Kong Buffet, a Chinese place she saw on their way to P3 the previous night. She figured with two hungry slayers it would be better to go to a place that has the word buffet in the name would, then an expensive place that wouldn't fill them up.

She was right. Not only did the place have a buffet where they could eat there weight if they wanted, but she also noticed Faith's eye's light up when they entered the restaurant.

"Wicked, I love Chinese. Damn it's been a long ass time since I've had any," Faith said.

Buffy snorted at her words. Partly because she had just been thinking the same thing, but mostly because of the way she said them. So blatantly sexual. A gift only Faith seemed to have. "Food, or people?" She asked the brunette.

Faith looked at her with a surprised look on her face, that was quickly replaced by a smile. "Ya know what? Ya ain't such a damn prude any more," Faith said, just as a waitress came out from the kitchen. She showed them to their table, took their drink order and told then to help themselves to the buffet.

After the waitress left Buffy looked at Faith and said, "I've never been a prude Faith. You just thought I was."

"The hell you weren't. Hell you still can't admit that slaying makes ya horny as hell," Faith replied as they made there way to the buffet.

"Faith," Buffy squeaked, and then looked around the room to see if anybody heard.

Faith laughs "Chill out, B. We're the only people here, and I take it back. Ya still are a damn prude."

"I am not a prude," Buffy said firmly.

"Fine. If you ain't a prude then just admit that you get horny after slaying," Faith said.

Buffy responded by turning away from Faith and returning to there table. A smile formed on the blonde face when she heard Faith laugh again, but quickly hid it when the brunette sat down with her overloaded plate.

After taking a few bites Buffy looked at Faith, who was practically inhaling her food, and snorted. Faith looked up at her, and mumbled, "what" through her full mouth.

Buffy let out a full belly laugh this time. "Nothing Faith," she said.

Faith shrugged and went back to eating her food, a bit slower this time.

"So, did Angel tell you how her got your conviction over turned?" Buffy asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Um, yeah," Faith said after swallowing a large mouth full of chicken. "He said it was a loophole. Some shit about my age, not having a guardian present, and not having a formal hearing. He also said that it was definitely a set up. Apparently the chick I spilled my guts to was a friend of his, and never would have over looked something like that."

How did he mange it that fast?" Buffy asked.

"He pulled some strings. He said he'd keep looking into the set up. Told him not to bother, but you know how the stubborn ass is sometimes."

Buffy laughed, "Yeah. I know. How are you feeling today about being free?"

Faith just shrugged as she shoveled more chicken into her mouth. After she chewed that mouthful she mumbled, "Guess, I should just be happy. You ain't going to be happy til' I am."

"Your right about that," Buffy mused happily.

Faith got up and went to refill her plate. When she sat back down she asked, "Did you figure anything out about that damn school, Giles wants to open?"

"Not really. Just basic building things. We're going to go building hunting probably tomorrow. Do you have any idea's?"

"About what?" Faith asked.

"About the school. You know like classes, equipment, slaying, what we should do, what we shouldn't do," Buffy said.

It took everything Faith had in her to not choke on her food, or show any surprise. She slowly chewed what was in her mouth pretending to think about it, before saying, "Yeah a kick ass gym. If we leave it up to Giles he'll have us training the baby slayers in the fuckin library."

A loud bang echoed through the empty restaurant, prompting both women to turn to see what it was. The waitress was refilling the buffet, and dropped an empty container. "I'm sorry. There is fresh pork fried rice," she said, and then practically ran back to the kitchen.

Buffy and Faith looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and went back to there food. After taking a bite, Buffy asked, "So, is there anything else you want to do with the school?"

"Um… Yeah. I don't want any of the girls to fuck up like I did," She mumbled.

"Faith, we've been over this. It wasn't just your fuck up. It was all of ours, but I think putting safe guards in place is a good thing. Any idea's?" Buffy said.

Once again, Faith was doing everything in her power to keep the surprise from showing on her face. Faith felt for sure that Buffy would take over and control her suggestion, but she didn't. She was again asking for Faith's opinion. Buffy was giving Faith an opening to truly become part of the Scooby Gang, and this time Faith was going to fully grab a hold.

"Yeah," She said. "These girls won't have to be thrown out there to survive or die. Before we even let them out there to slay, they have to pass a training' program. Strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, and sensing. They don't pass, they don't slay. Plus mandatory counseling."

The last part surprised Buffy, but un-like her brunette counterpart, she wasn't able to keep it off her face. Faith snorted, and then said, "I know, shocker right. If somebody would have suggested I see a shrink five years ago, I would have decked em, but that was then. It was mandatory in jail to talk the shrink. For the first six months I hated it, but then it started to help. Making the baby slayers talk to one will help them, whether they want it or not."

"This is definitely a new side of you, and I'm really liking it. I think that is a great idea, but not just for the newbie's. I think we all could use some counseling. Being a slayer comes with a lot of baggage, for us and everyone around us."

"That's an understatement, B. Slaying can be a hell of a ride though," Faith said.

"Yeah, it can be. I was thinking about going slaying tonight. What do you think. Want to scoop the town out with me?" Buffy asked.

"Hell yeah," Faith said, and then got up and moved to the buffet. Neither woman noticed the two women who had there heads sticking out the swinging kitchen door listening to every word they said.


	12. Getting to Know You: Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, or Buffy

A/N: Sorry for the long breaks. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon. Please let me know what you think. Even if ya think it's crap.

Chapter 12: Getting to Know You: Part 2

"Why are we coming up here, and who is Grams?" Willow asked as they walked into the attic.

"Grams, is your great grandmother, and we're coming up here because this is where we keep…" Prue said, leaving her sentence hang as she walked across the room. She stood in front of the Book of Shadows, swiveled it around to show Willow, and finished her previously dropped sentenced, with a simple, "This."

Willow looked down at the giant book, and then looked back up at her mother. "Come over here and see," Prue said, when Willow didn't move. Phoebe gently pushed Willow across the room, and then plopped down on the small couch.

"This is our Book of Shadows. It's been in our family since the Salem witch trials," Prue said.

"It has power," Willow remarked offhandedly, as she traced the triquetra with her fingertips. "I can feel it radiating off of it."

"Yeah," Piper said. "It has charms placed on it to protect it from evil." Piper chuckled quietly when Willow jerked her hand from the book.

"It's alright sweetie, it won't hurt you. It will just move itself away from your grasp if it views you as a threat, and clearly it doesn't because you were able to touch it," Paige said, as she placed the candles around the floor for the spell.

"Oh," Willow said; turning slightly to look at her aunt. "What are you doing?"

"Setting up the spell," she responded.

"What spell?"

"Where going to summon Grams," Piper answered, from her seat next to Phoebe.

"From where?" Willow asked, suddenly feeling that her new family was leaving something out.

"From the afterlife," Phoebe said.

"Really, you can do that?" Willow asked, excited.

"Yeah, you can too." Prue said, as she flipped through the book. "Here's the spell. Why don't you give it a try." Willow looked hesitant. "It's alright. If anything happens we're here," she said, knowing full well why the young redhead was being reluctant.

"Alright," Willow said hesitantly, then moved slowly toward the book.

"Now remember," Prue said quietly. "Your not going to call on magic around you. The magic for this spell comes from within you. Forget everything you know about magic and just let it happen. Ok?"

"Yeah. Got it. Don't do what I normally do," Willow said. She looked over the spell, cleared her mind, and then started to say it aloud. "Hear these words, hear my cry." Nothing happened. "Spirit from the other side" White orbs started to form. "Come to me, I summon thee," The orbs start circling. "Cross now, the Great Divide." She finished saying the spell, looked up, and watched as the orbs disappeared.

"Well guess that tells us if her powers are bound or not," Piper commented.

"What happened? Why didn't it work?" Willow asked. She was disappointed that she wasn't able to make it work, and her aunts, and mother could her it in her voice. "I thought it was working. I could feel the magic working."

"It was working sweetie. Your powers are still partially bound. It wanted to work but you don't have enough power to make it work," Prue explained.

"That's not something I've heard in a while," Willow said. "I've had a lot of power in me for years."

Piper snorted, "Yeah, well once we find out what spell Grams used, and we un-do it, I'm sure you're going to be even more powerful then us combined."

"I already have a lot of magic flowing threw me. I don't know if it's a good idea releasing more of it."

"I think we don't have a choice. Some of your natural powers are surfacing, but because you have earth magic flowing through you, we can't tell which magic is which," Prue said, and then she leaned forward and whispered in Willow's ear. "I promise I won't let anything like last year happen to you again."

Despite only knowing the woman for twenty-four hours, Willow knew in her heart that Prue had every intention of keeping that promise. She looked at her mother and nodded.

"Good," Prue quietly said, and then recited the spell.

Grams apparently knew the girls were going trying to summon her, because she appeared in the circle, facing them with a smile on her face. "Hello girls," she said, as she walked out of the circle, and over to Willow. "It is good to have you back home again Willow. I had hoped you would return to us one day." Then she gave her a hug.

Willow looked uneasily at Prue, who was wearing a smirk, before crudely asking, "What are you?"

"I'm a ghost, dear."

"But you're corporeal," Willow said, dumbfounded.

"Yes dear I am," Grams said.

"How is that possible?"

"Magic, dear," Grams said. "Ain't it grand."

Willow stood there with her mouth slightly open, and a dumbfounded look on her face. For the first time in her life, she was completely lost. This magic was something she could not wrap her mind around. It went against everything she knew about magic. Standing in front of her was her dead great-grandmother, looking very much alive. Which for her was not something new. She had Buffy, and Tara back to prove it, but how she got there was new. There was no ritual, no ingredients, no sacrifice, no pain. Just a few candles, and a simply spell.

"I think you broke her, Grams," Phoebe commented.

"Yeah. She hasn't been this quiet since she showed up at our doorstep yesterday," Paige teased.

"Hey," Willow said. "I'm standing right here ya know.

"We know," replied Paige and Phoebe, making Willow pout, even though she was secretly loving it. She couldn't help, but wonder what her life would have been like if Prue had kept her.

Her knew thought pattern must have shown on her face because she felt Prue lay her hand on her shoulder At the exact same time, Grams suddenly announced that she was going to the kitchen to make the unbinding potion, before promptly leaving the room. Calling for the younger three sister's to follow as she did, and once again leaving Willow speechless.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Lets pay and start heading back to the hotel. We can continue this on the way," Buffy said. Faith nodded, and then they both walked over to the register to pay. Buffy had started to pulled money out of her pocket when a short old woman with white hair came from the kitchen. When she saw the money in Buffy's hand she said, "No money. Food on house."

Buffy and Faith looked at each other, and then looked back at the woman. "Um, okay.

Why?" Buffy asked confused.

"You slayer," The old woman said. The waitress came out of the kitchen, and the old woman immediately started talking to her in Chinese.

The waitress looked at the stunned slayers and translated what her mother was saying to her. "My mother wants to know which one of you is the slayer?"

"I don't know what your talking about. Neither of us are this so called slayer thingy. What even is a, what is it called, slobber ?" Buffy said quickly.

"Yeah that was real convincing, B. Slobber? Really?" Faith asked.

"What it was the first thing that came to mind. At least I tried," Buffy replied.

"Ok, B. Next time don't say anything."

"Fine. Next time I'll let you do all the talking, and then you'll see how hard it really is."

"It ain't that damn hard. I have at least five cover stories running through my head right now."

"Well, then lets hear one of these cover stories," Buffy said.

"What the hell's the point, B. They clearly already know who we are, so might as well just tell them."

"Fine," Buffy grumbled. She looked back at the Chinese women who had been watching the slayer's with interest, and asked, "How do you know about slayers?"

"My mother's sister was a slayer. Many stories have been told about her. It is considered a high honor to be called as the slayer in our village," said the younger Chinese woman.

"How did you know we're slayers?" Buffy asked.

"I over heard you discussing it. I was taught that there was only one slayer though," The waitress said, looking confused.

Buffy looked at Faith, silently asking what she thought. Faith just shrugged at her. "Yeah. To make a very long story very short; we changed the slayer line, There are a lot of slayers now," Buffy said.

The slayers watch as the two Chinese woman talked rapidly. The waitress turned back to them and said, "My name is Cai, and this is my mother, Li. She says you are welcome here anytime. Free of charge."

"It is nice to meet you both. I'm Buffy and this is Faith. It's nice of the offer, but I wouldn't feel right not paying," She said, and then leaned forward and mock whispered, "She eats like a pig."

"None sense. My mother, and I won't hear of it. We would like to hear the full story though. So please come back. Anytime," Cai said as she practically pushed the two slayers out the door, before either could protest any further.

"Dude. Did that really just happen?" Faith asked.

"I don't know. What the hell are the odds of us moving to a new town and just happen to meet the sister of a former slayer?"

"Ya got me. Man that's some crazy shit," Faith said.

"Yeah, it is," Buffy said. "We're not in Sunnydale anymore. We need to be more careful what we say out in public. Even if we think we're alone."

"Yeah, still wicked as hell though," Faith replied.

Buffy chuckled, "Come on lets start walking back to the hotel." They had been walking in silence for a few minutes when Buffy suddenly stopped.

"What's up, B? Why'd ya stop?" Faith turned around and asked her.

Buffy pointed to something over Faith's shoulder. Faith turned back around to see what she was pointing at, and then looked back to Buffy with confusion clearly showing on her face. "It's a playground. Why are ya pointing at a fuckin playground, B?"

"Wanna' swing with me?" Buffy asked.

"Swing? Did Cai slip something into your drink? Cause your acting weirder then normal."

"I am not weird. I just haven't been on a swing forever. So come swing with me," Buffy said, and then ran to the swings.

Faith followed the crazy woman, and sat down on a swing next to her. "B, are ya feelin alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great. This is the first time in like eight years, I haven't had to worry about the next 'Big Bad.' It's really strange, but at the same time it's cool. Ya know."

"No, I don't know, B. I didn't have to deal with half the shit you had to. I didn't really give a damn about saving the world. I just got off on the rush of killing something."

"I don't think you didn't give a damn, Faith. You may think you were only doing it to get a rush, but I saw the look on your face when we slayed together. It gave you something, that slaying never gave me."

"Oh yeah. What's that?" Faith retorted.

"A sense of purpose. I slayed because I felt I had no choice. Each time I went out it was for a reason. Whether it was because of Willow, Dawn, my mom, Xander, Giles or simply because I was feeling guilty that someone had been killed. I viewed it as a job, and if I didn't do my job then people would die. You though, were excited to go slaying, and you brought that excitement into my life, too. At the time I thought it was just that you got a rush from the slaying itself, but now that I've gotten to know you a little bit I think you got the rush because you had something that gave your life meaning. I already had something to live for, and a few times willingly die for. Family and friends. Everything we're not suppose to have."

"Ya don't know a damn thing about my past, so how can ya say that's why I slayed?" Faith snapped. "How the hell do you know I didn't have all those things waiting for me in Boston?"

"Do you?" Buffy asked. There was no need for Faith to answer, because her face plainly said no. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since you popped back into our lives, Faith. Putting every detail of what happened back together again, so that it makes sense to me. You're right though, I don't know much about you Faith, but that's because you only let us half way in."

"I am letting ya in, B. You saw me fuckin crying like a baby, yesterday. What more do ya want? To know every little thing that ever happened in my life? None of that shit makes a different. What happened is in the past, and I don't want to bring any of that shit into the present."

"To start with. Yeah some details would be nice. You don't have to tell me every little thing, but a littler bit would be nice. That's how friends work. You tell them things. You let them in. Most of what you do tell us is snide comment that half the time you don't even realize you said until you see our looks."

"B, I ain't any good at this talkin' shit," Faith replied.

"Sure you are. You just said a whole sentence to me," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Faith warned.

"Ooh, full name. Alright, I'll stop being all cute," Buffy said bubbly, then she realized what she said.

"B. It took the jail shrink damn near six month to get me talking. What the hell makes ya think you'll get me to talk to you?"

"My good looks, and the fact that I've already gotten you to open up," Buffy said, and then saw the look Faith was giving her. "Fine. How about this. I'll ask you a question, and if you feel like answering it then you do. If you don't want to you can say pass and we'll revisit the question when your ready, but if you choose to answer the question then you have to promise to be one hundred percent truthful."

"Ya ain't gonna let up on this, are ya?" Faith asked. When Buffy shook her head no, Faith relented. "Fine. Shoot."

"Do you promise to be truthful?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," Faith replied.

"Good we'll start off easy. What's your full name?"

"Faith Annabel Lehane."

"Pretty," Buffy said, and then chuckled at the scowl on Faith's face. "When's your birthday?"

"December 17, 1986."

Buffy thought for a minute and then said, "So that means you were fourteen when you first came to Sunnydale, but you were fifteen when you slept with Xander. Which brings me to my next question. Why did you sleep with Xander?"

"Because I had an itch that needed to be scratched, and he was the closest warm body. Why did you sleep with Angel?" Faith shot back at Buffy.

"Ooh, touchy subject," Buffy mused. "I slept with Angel, because I loved him."

"He's a vampire, B. There's no damn blood pumping down there so I don't even see how the hell he kept the thing up."

"Do you have to be so damn vulgar?"

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"I don't know. You're the one being all insightful today, so you tell me."

"That's not how this works. I want you to answer the question. Not me answering them, for you."

"Fine. Then I pass on that question."

"Fine. What did you say to Dawn, about Willow, the other night?" Buffy asked with an evil grin on her face.

"No way. Pass."

"Awe, come on Faithy. This is an easy one. Please tell me."

"No way in hell am I answering that one," Faith said.

"Fine, your no fun," Buffy pouted. "Do you have any siblings?"

Faith's face darkened before she answered, "Got three, two sisters and a brother. All older then me."

"What are their name's?"

"Don't know. Never met them," Faith said. She noticed the questioning look on Buffy's face so she continued.

"Bastard of a father took off when I was born. My Ma would tell me every time she got stoned or drunk that I was the reason he left. She would say how he took one look at my ugly ass, and he went running back to his wife, their two precious daughters, and perfect son. That's all I know about them. Well that and their last name. Same as mine. Bout the only thing he did to claim me. Signed the birth certificated, and took off before the ink was even dry."

"Faith, that's horrible. Your mother had no right to talk to you like that," Buffy said.

"Yeah, well it was about the nicest thing she ever told me," Faith said.

"Faith," Buffy said softly.

"It's cool, B. It is what it is," Faith said.

"No it's not cool Faith. It's not cool at all," Buffy said as she got off of her swing and moved to stand in front of Faith. "What else did your mom do to you?"

"This was a bad idea, Buffy."

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Because I don't think you can handle hearing what happened with my Ma," she said. "Pass, on all question that have to do with her."

"Faith, she clearly is part of…"

"No. You said I can pass on any questions I don't wanna answer and I'm passin'," Faith interrupted.

"Fine," Buffy relented, and then sat back down on her swing. "Did you ever try and find your father?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Figured I had one shitty parent, didn't wanna add another to the list."

"Don't you want to meet your bother and sisters?" Buffy asked.

"They probably don't even know I exist. Why should I even open that can of worms?"

"They're your family, and you have a right to know them if you want to. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think. Look at Willow. She took the chance at finding her real family, and looked what happened. They opened their hearts and their home up to her without a second thought."

"I ain't Red."

"No your not, but that doesn't mean you can't have the same things she has been blessed with."

"Whatever," Faith huffed.

Buffy was starting to get a picture of how Faith's life was, and she was happy that Faith's opening up to her a little. She hoped that the younger woman would be able to tell her what her mother did to her one day, but she was willing to leave that chapter of Faith's story go for now. "Do you want to stop?" she asked.

"No. I know ya still haven't gotten to what ya really what to know, so asked away," Faith said.

Buffy thought for a minute and then decided to just ask that burning question. "Why did you go to the Mayor?"

"I don't know," Faith said quietly. "I've asked myself that question a million times, B, and I just don't know what brought me to his office that night."

"Ok, how about this then. Why did you stay with him?"

Faith looked up at Buffy, and the blonde notice a single tear running down Faith's left cheek. "Because he treated me good, B. Like I was an actual person and not a piece of garbage waiting to thrown out, or a spare tire that's only there as a backup."

Even thought Faith didn't say it, Buffy caught the meaning behind the backup comment. "You stayed because of how we treated you, and I truly am sorry for that."

"It ain't your fault. It's mine, and I accept that."

"We were doing great until you killed Finch. That's what broke everything apart."

"Yeah, I accepted that too."

"No you haven't. That night still haunts you. I see it every time I look into your eyes, but you need to get past it. It wasn't your fault he died. It was an accident."

"I know it was an accident, B, but it shouldn't of happened. I screwed up that night and he lost his life because of it, and I have accepted what happened. At least my role in it" Faith yelled at Buffy. She got off of the swing, and then started pacing.

"Faith you didn't screw up. I did," Buffy said.

Faith stopped pacing and turned to look at Buffy. "Don't take my screw up on for yourself, B. I did it, not you."

"Yes, you were the one that did it, but I was the that screwed up. Not you. I should have taken the lead in stead of following you. You were still new to it all. It takes time for a slayer to grasp everything that is going on inside of her. To sense the difference between human and demon when your out in the field. I didn't even sense he was a human until a split second before you plunge a stake into his chest, and it was already to late."

"This wasn't your fault, B. I accepted it, and I'm gonna make damn sure a accident like that never happens again."

"It won't. We'll make sure of it," Buffy said. "Was there ever a time you didn't want to stay with him any more?"

"I don't want to talk anymore Buffy. Please, let it go," she pleaded, suddenly feeling very panic-y.

"Faith," Buffy said.

"No Buffy. I spent two years talking about all of this with the jail shrink. I need you to understand that I have accepted my role in everything, but that doesn't mean I don't carry what happened around with me everyday.

Buffy didn't understand why Faith shut down all of a sudden. She wanted to know more, but didn't want to push the her further then she already had. They lapsed into silence as the returned to swinging, both lost in their own heads.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Grams? Why did you make us leave?" Phoebe asked, as the four women settled into the kitchen.

"Because, Prue and Willow needed to have The Talk," Grams replied, as she pulled out one of the pots the girls used for potion making.

"Grams," Phoebe said. "I think Willow already knows about sex. I mean she does have a girlfriend, after all."

"Ew, Phoebe," Piper exclaimed. "She wasn't talking about the sex talk. She was talking a the witch talk. Right Grams?"

"No. Your both wrong," Paige butted in. "She was talking about the 'Why did you give me up for adoption' talk. Right Grams?"

Grams chuckled lightly, as she poured something green into the now simmering pot. "Right you are, Paige."

"Oh," Piper and Phoebe said.

"Come on dears. Help me make a couple of potions, while we wait for them to finish their talk. I've already started the un-binding potion, but I think it would be best if we make one to bind her powers, just in case we need to."

"Grams. How did you know we needed a potion for Willow?" Paige asked, as she pulled out another pot.

"I'm dead dear. I know everything you girls do," She replied.

"Yeah. That's not creepy at all," Phoebe muttered.


	13. Getting to Know You: Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, or Buffy

Chapter 13: Getting to Know You: Part 3

As everybody started to file out of Giles' room, the watcher pulled Tara to the side and had asked her to stay. He was intrigued by her return and wanted to discuss it. That had been over an hour ago.

After spending a half a hour searching for Dawn, Xander, or Buffy, and coming up empty, Tara finally found one of them in the small hotel gym. Dawn was in the far right hand corner, doing Tai-Chi, on a blue wrestling mat. She stood just inside the door, watching the younger woman. The blonde felt sadness filled her heart as she watched the graceful movements of the young brunette. Dawn looked so grown up, and it was a hard reminder that a year had passed without her.

While she had been allowed to keep an eye on Willow, she had been forbidden to do so with the rest of the gang, unless they were in the same space as Willow. Because of this, Tara had broken pieces of Dawns life over the last year, and was eager for Dawn to fill in the gaps.

Tara was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Dawn say her name from her new spot right in front of her.

"Hi," Dawn said. "How long have you been standing here?"

"Not long. I guess I got lost in how grown up you looked doing that. You're not that klutzy awkward teen I used to know," Tara replied, her voice betraying the sadness she felt.

"Just because there's less of a risk that I'm going to accidentally shoot a poor kitten again with my crossbow, doesn't mean I'm not the same girl I was. I'm still a total dork," Dawn said, trying to lighten the mood a little, and then grabbed Tara's hand and started pulling her towards the door. "Come on, I've missed you so much, and there so much I want to tell you."

"I missed you, too, Dawnie," Tara said, as the young slayer gently pulled her towards the stairs case. They silently walked the rest of the way to Dawn's room.

As soon as her bedroom door closed, Dawn engulfed Tara in a bone-crushing hug, and silently started to cry into the crook of Tara's neck.

After the initial shock wore off, Tara relaxed into the hug, and started rubbing comforting circles onto Dawn's back. Tara's wasn't shocked by the teen's sudden mood swing, as this wasn't the first time she had been in this position.

After Buffy jumped off the tower, Dawn tried to keep her emotions in check. She didn't want to show how much losing her mother, and sister was affecting her. She didn't want to wallow, because of the precious gift her sister had given her. Tara saw through the act she was putting on. She knew Dawn was sneaking out of bed and slipping into Buffy's every night, curling up with Mr. Gordo, and then after Willow fix her, the Buffy-bot. It was the rare moments where Dawn would be laughing about something, and then she would suddenly be crying. Tara knew what the she was going through, and she was always there to catch the teen as she slipped to the floor, comforting her with a softly sung lullaby, and rubbed her back soothingly. Very much like she was doing at that moment.

This time was different, then those in the past. Dawn wasn't crying just because of something that was lost, but rather gained. She had dreamt of this moment. Just as she had when her mother and Buffy had died. She hoped and prayed to what ever god who was listening to her, for another miracle, even though she watched Buffy struggle to come back into the world, whole again. Now she had what her heart had desired for the last year. Her heart bleed with relief, happiness, and for the first time since before she found out she was the key; a bright ray of hope broke through the darkness. So much so, that she couldn't keep it inside. It turned her into a blubbering mess.

Tara maneuvered them on to Dawn's bed as the brunette's sobs slowed. "I missed you. Please don't ever leave us again," Dawn said quietly.

"I missed you too, Dawnie. I promise no m-matter what I will always be here for you," Tara whispered back. "How are you handling everything? For real."

"I'm doing okay. I'm a lot better now. I'm so glad they let you come back," Dawn replied.

"Will you tell me about everything I've m-missed?" Tara asked.

"Sure. Oh my god. There is so much to tell," Dawn squealed. "They rebuilt the high school, and it tried to kill me on my first day."

Tara chuckled. She had heard many stories of the woes of Sunnydale High School. While they most would be horrified by the story being told, but the Scoobies always told them in a dramatic, but funny way.

Dawn told Tara everything that had happened during her absence. From her slaying lessons with Buffy, right down the amount of vampires' Buffy slayed. In return Tara explained to her what it meant to be a whitelighter. Her responsibilities and what her new powers were. They talked until about an hour before they were an hour before they were due at the Halliwell Manor, because Tara was called away by somebody.

* * *

Prue chuckled at the flabbergasted look on her daughter's face, before pulling the redhead over to the couch. "You'll get use to her after awhile."

"You mean this a regular thing?" Willow asked dumbfounded. "How is this possible? What will happen to her coporeal body when it's time for her to go? Does she die all over again?"

"No. She doesn't die again. When it's time for her to go again, she'll go the same way she came, or one of us will orb her back. As for the how; it's magic. Something's just can't be explained by logic. It just is."

"I don't work well like that. I have to be able to understand how things work, and I don't understand your magic. There was no ritual, or even ingredients. You just said a few words, and then 'poof' dead woman standing in your attic looking very much alive."

"I understand your confusion, sweetie. This is different then what you're used to, but it is very much apart of you. You have me and your aunts to help you embrace this new form of magic," Prue said softly, as she moved them over to the couch.

"I know. I think that part of why I'm freaking out over this," Willow said as she sat down nest to her mother. "I mean, when I found out about vampires, and everything else that goes bump in the night I didn't freak out. Well at least after the initial shock wore off, but that's to be expected. Right? But here I am completely freaking out. Why? Well because when I thought about meeting you and your sister's I thought I would have a magic free environment. I thought I would be explaining thing to you, way, way, down the road. Not have you explain thing to me. Not finding out that I have even more powers that I'm going to have to learn to control. I already ha…"

Prue gently slapped her hand over her daughter's mouth mid sentence. "Alright girlie. You need to calm down before you start blowing thing up."

Willow mumbled something, but since Prue's hand was still covering her mouth, it didn't make any sense. Prue smiled warmly at the redhead as she dropped her hand, and then asked, "What was that?"

Willow huffed a little, and then replied, "I said, I only did it once."

"Yes, and once usually leads to many more times, in this family. Our powers are triggered by our emotions until we gain control over them. The first power I got was telekinesis. One of the first times I used it was when Phoebe and I were at the store. Phoebe had just told me what were, and I wasn't taking it so well. She started talking about our father, and I got angry, and made every bottle of pills in the isle we were in fly off the shelves."

"So to gain control over the power you have to know the trigger?" Willow asked.

"Yep. Your's are going to be hard though because we are going to have to separate which powers are natural, and which are foreign."

"I'm still not to sure about unleashing more power inside me," Willow said.

"I know your not. I watched as you struggled last year, and I wanted nothing more then to come to you. To help you and to hold you as you went through it. I wish I could have, but it wasn't the right time. At least that's what they kept telling me, but you have me now. Me and your aunts. We won't let anything happen, but we have to do it. Your natural powers are leaking through cracks in the spell, and the only way to control them is for them to be unbound. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Willow replied. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure sweetie," Prue replied.

"Why did you get angry when Phoebe started talking about your father?"

"Ah, well. Your grandfather wasn't always in our lives. He left us with Grams shortly after our mother died, and he wasn't there for us growing up."

"Why did he leave you?"

"I guess he couldn't handle us being witches. Even though we didn't have our powers," Prue replied.

"But he came back. I mean I met him last night," Willow said.

"Yeah he came back. First time we saw him after he left was eight years ago. It was right after we got our powers, but he left us again. Then he showed back up about two years later, and we started to become close. I slowly let go of the hurt, and anger I felt for him abandoning us, and let him be my father."

Willow quietly nibbled on her lower lip for a few minutes. She knew exactly what she wanted to ask Prue, but wasn't sure if she wanted to bring it up, or not. Prue noticed Willow's internal debate ranging, and knew what it was about. In an attempt to ease her daughter's struggle her said, "You don't have to be afraid to ask me something. If you want to know something go ahead a head and ask, sweetie."

Willow continued to nibble on her lip for a few more minutes before asking, "Why did you give me away?"

Prue grasped Willow's right hand in between her own, and gave her a soft smile. "I love you, Willow. I have since the day I found out I was pregnant. I don't ever want you to think that's why I gave you up for adoption. At first Andy and I were going to keep you, but as your birthday approached I started to feel you deserved much better then us. I was only fifteen, and I was still dealing with not having my own parents. I wanted you to have a happy, stable home. Not one that was broken."

"I didn't have that though. Both of my parents worked all the time, and when they realized I was capable of taking care of myself, they left me alone. Some times for weeks at a time."

"I'm sorry that you grew up like that, but I wouldn't change a thing. We can't live on what ifs, only what is. And this is exactly where we were destined to end up," Prue told her.

"So if the circumstance had been different, you still would have given me away?" Willow asked.

"I'm not sure sweetie, and that's the point. We don't know. There is no way for us to know if you life would have been better if you had stayed with me. I do know one this though. If you had stayed with me you never would have met Xander, or Buffy. Buffy would most definitely dead, and you might never have met Tara."

"You have a point," Willow said. "I understand why you did it. When I found out that I was adopted, I thought that there was something wrong with me. My parents were staying away longer and longer, and I thought maybe I wasn't loveable."

"I'm sorry you felt that way. We can't change the past, but we can look towards the future," Prue told her. "I love you. I want to get to know you. I want to be in your life, if you'll let me."

"Of course I want you to be. It's why I insisted on us moving here. To get to know you and your family. It's all I've wanted since I found out about you."

"Then that is what we'll do," Prue said, and then pulled Willow into a hug. Willow melted into the embrace, and felt, for the first time since she was three, that she had a loving mother. It was a very calming, comforting feeling.

* * *

Buffy and Faith quietly swung for a half a hour before Faith was able to calm down. She knew what she was getting into, when she agreed to talk, but it was incredibly hard for her to tell the older slayer her deepest secrets. It had taken nearly six months in jail shrink to do what Buffy had managed to do in two days, and damn it that just wasn't cool.

When she had calmed down enough, Faith said, "I think we should head back before Giles starts sending out the troops."

"Good point. Let's go," Buffy said.

Even though Faith was calm again, her mind was still racing. Buffy was giving her the one thing she wanted when she came to Sunnydale. Friendship. She just wanted somebody to care about her again. Not just Buffy either. All of the Scoobies were including her in the gang. They made it very clear at the hotel. _'Shit,' _she thought. _'I shouldn't have lied to her about the kiss. If she finds out I lied to her she's gonna be pist. Okay, so I'll just tell her now, and it won't be a big deal. She'll respect me for coming clean, and I might be able to blow it under the rug.' _

They were three blocks from the hotel when Faith worked up the courage and hesitantly said, "Buffy."

Buffy stopped, looked at Faith and said, "Again with my full name. This has to be a record."

"Yeah probably is," faith smiled sheepishly.

"What's up Faith?" Buffy asked, as they started walking again.

"I… a… kinda lied to you earlier," Faith awkwardly said.

"About what?"

"About the kiss," Faith said, making Buffy freeze again.

"What about the kiss?" Buffy asked.

"I did kiss ya because I like ya, B," Faith said.

"Oh," Buffy said and then started walking again. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I didn't mean to sound like a bitch. I was just freaked out, because I've never had a girl like me like that before."

"It's cool, B. I get it. This is all new for me too. I've never actually put myself out there like that. Never been in a real relationship before," Faith said.

"What about Robin?" Buffy asked.

"That was more of a bet then a relationship. I didn't have a whole lot of feelings for him. I only agreed to go out with him, because he questioned my skills."

"Skills?" Buffy asked, and then realized what Faith meant. "Oh those skills. So the first time you put yourself out there, I turn you down in the bitchiest of ways. Great. So not what I want on my conscious."

The last part made Faith laugh. "Well at least you can say you had a hot ass chick lusting after ya. That's so gotta be worth some serious points with the guys."

"Oh yeah. Go up to a guy and say, so I had this hot ass chick who wanted me, wanna go out," Buffy said, making Faith laugh harder.

"Yeah, he'd probably be like, hell yeah, why don't you give that hot ass chick a call and we can make it threesome," Faith said.

"Yeah, and then I'd probably kick him in the nuts, for even suggesting it," Buffy said.

Buffy was enjoying Faith's laughter. It was good for her to be happy, because even though see didn't think she deserved it; she did. Buffy draped her arm over Faith's shoulders and said, "I'm really sorry I hurt your feeling, but I don't feel like that towards you. Don't worry though, we'll find you somebody for you to love, who will love you back."

"Yeah I suppose. Hey there's always Dawn. Pretty sure she had a crush on me when I first came to Sunnydale," Faith said.

"Yeah I'm sure she'll like that," Buffy said, and then stopped walking when she realized who Faith was talking about. "Wait. What? Dawn? As in my little sister Dawn?"

"She ain't little no more. She's all woman size now," Faith said.

"Faith this is my sister were talking about."

"Yeah I know."

"We're having a conversation about you wanting to date my little sister."

"I never said I wanted to date her. I was just throwing the possibility out there is all."

"Yeah, to date my sister."

"Alright. To date your sister."

"And what if I don't want to give you my blessing?"

"Then I guess you'll just have to catch me before I ask her out," Faith said, and then took off running at full slayer speed, before Buffy had a chance to react.

"Faith," Buffy yelled. "Faith come back here. Faith," She yelled as she started to chase the younger woman.

* * *

Dawn was lying on her bed reading the book Willow had bought her the day before, when Faith came barreling through the door, and jumped on the bed next to her. Dawn let out a surprised squeal as she was jostled from her comfortable position. She glared at Faith who was looking at her with a small grin on her other wise innocent looking face.

A minute later Buffy came barreling through the closed door, looking a little tired, with her hand over her healing wound, Buffy glared at Faith, then looked at Dawn, and then glared at Faith again. Dawn, who had put her book away, was imitating her sister by looking back and forth between the two women, as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Hey, B. What took ya so long?" Faith finally asked, very innocently.

Buffy gave her an annoyed looked, and then moved to sit across from Faith on the bed the two of them had shared the night before. Faith noticed Buffy wince as she sat, and then watched as the blonde moved her hand to the healing stab wound on her stomach. Just before the hand covered the spot, Faith noticed a small red spot on the shirt.

"B, you're bleeding," Faith said as she stood up, and moved toward Buffy.

"Huh?" Buffy asked, looking down at her stomach. There was a small amount of blood on her shirt where her still healing wound was. She lifted her shirt to inspect it. The edges of the wound where already healed. It was just a small spot in the center of it that was opened. "Must have pulled it opened on our way back."

"Is it okay?" Faith asked her voice full of concern. Something that did not go un-noticed by Buffy, or Dawn.

"You should ask Tara to heal that," Dawn said.

"Heal?" Buffy asked confused.

"It's one of her new powers. It is really cool. All she has to do is put her hand over your wound and then it's gone," Dawn said, excitedly.

"That sound wicked useful," Faith said. "You should ask her to do it. There might have been something bad on the blade."

"Yeah. I'll ask her when I see her," Buffy said, putting her shirt back into place. "Have you seen her Dawn?"

"Yeah. She left a few minutes ago. Didn't saw why though," Dawn answered. "We should probably get going. Don't want to be late to meeting the PTB."

"Good idea. Let me go clean and bandage this again, and change and them we can go," Buffy said, as she headed to the bathroom.

* * *

"This is kind of surreal," Paige muttered, from her spot next to Phoebe, but across from Piper and Grams.

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "Which is weird considering this is becoming a habit."

"It's happened twice," Piper said, throwing some mandrake root into the boiling pot, and then shrugged. "At least we knew about Willow, this time."

"No, you knew. We didn't," Phoebe corrected, pointing back and forth to her younger sister. "Which reminds me. Grams, is there any particular reason that I don't remember Prue being pregnant?"

"Well that would be because I cast a spell on you to forget," Grams replied, nonchalantly.

"Grams. Why would you do that?" Phoebe demanded.

"Don't Grams me. I did it because you wouldn't leave Prue alone. You kept asking about the baby. Why wasn't she there? Why did you give her away? Did she miss the baby? They were never ending, and it was making Prue's decision harder to cope with."

"Was I really that bad?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm afraid you were," Grams said. She noticed the guilty look Phoebe wore, and her instincts to protect kicked in. "It's alright dear. You didn't understand, and just wanted some answers. Prue understood, but it didn't make it easier on her."

"I get it," Phoebe said quietly. "It's alright."

The kitchen lapsed into quiet, while Piper and Grams continued to brew the un-binding potion. Paige wasn't comfortable with the sudden mood shift in the room. It let her mind wonder to bad places. The last few days have brought up old insecurities. First with not even knowing she had a niece, though she did feel better after learning that Phoebe didn't know either, and then when Prue suddenly orbed back into the picture. She wasn't completely sure where she fit into the family now. It had taken a very long time to get over the feeling that she was just a replacement. Somebody only there to fill the spot Prue left behind, and now those feeling where back again. She didn't want to feel like this, but it didn't matter how much she scolded. How much she told herself that she was still their sister. That they wouldn't forget about her existence. It didn't work.

She needed to change the subject to something else. To try and forget about the sad feeling she had raging in her chest. "Do you think we should protect the house, for the meeting? I mean we are going to have several highly wanted magical beings here."

Piper and Phoebe looked at her in surprise. Neither one of them had though about that. "That's a good idea Paige," Piper replied. "We can set up the crystals, after Prue and Willow come down from the attic."

"Speaking of Willow and the attic, if she and her friends say yes, where the hell are you putting them?"

"Well I figured Leo could build a room or two in the basement, and we can clean the attic up a bit and put some beds up there," Piper said.

"I think that will work," Phoebe replied. "I'm still surprised you kept the offer on the table after learning about her friend Faith."

"So am I," Willow's voice floated through the room from behind her. Prue and her were standing in the door way. "Most people wouldn't want somebody with Faith's history, let alone my own, around themselves, or their children."

"Yeah, well, I'm not most people. Far from it in fact, and I've gathered from what you've told me about Faith, is that she just needs a little guidance, somebody to be there for her, and you are family."

"You're right about that, but it is still kind of you to offer. One that we will be taking you up on."

"You got all of your friends to agree to move in," Paige asked surprised.

"No. Well yes, but Giles has to return to England for awhile and Andrew and the three new slayers who are in our care have decided to return to their parents for the summer. So it's just going to be me, Tara, Xander, Buffy, Dawn, and Faith."

"Well that makes it easier to decide where everybody goes," Piper said, and then looked at Grams. "I think it's done."

"I think your right," Grams said with a fond smile. Piper always had an aptitude for potion making. Even when she hadn't even realized that she was making one.

"So what does that mean?" Willow asked, more out of nervousness, than actually want to know.

"It means, that once the potion cools off, you can take it," Piper said, and then noticed that it was already after one o'clock. "Until then I'll make us some food. I'm starving."

Willow caught Phoebe looking intently at her, while Piper whipped up some spaghetti for them. Fearing that her makeup had smeared, she asked, "Is there something on my face? Is my makeup ok?"

"Phoebe looked ashamed at being caught staring. "I'm sorry. It's just your hair. I don't see how it can be red."

Paige snorted, "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"Why is everybody interested in my hair color?" Willow asked her mother.

Grams spoke up, before Prue had a chance to answer. "Because it's a fabulous color dear. One you get from me."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you were a redhead," Paige said.

"Yeah, but the rest of us have brown hair, and that gene don't just randomly pop up," Phoebe countered.

"It does if it was a curse," Grams replied, making Willow freak out.

"A curse. Somebody put a curse on me," Willow panicky said.

"No dear your fine," Grams said. "I asked my mother the very same question when I was younger. She told me that one of our ancestors was curse with red hair. It was a weak curse given to her by a scorned lover. Men. He was under the impression red hair was a bad thing. Idiot. Any way, Grace, I believe was the one, loved her new hair color. When her daughter was born she was ecstatic to see that she had passed the red hair on to her. When her granddaughter was born a brunette, she realized that her dream of her red hair lasting through the generations wouldn't happen unless she did something. So she placed a curse, similar to the one that that had been placed on her, on our family line. She just altered it a little. If a red head isn't born into this family at least one time in three generations, then the first born of the every third generation will be a redhead. It was her way of passing something down the line forever. I was a third generation, as are you."

"That is beyond crazy," Paige said.

Grams chuckled, "Yes it is, but as rumor goes so was Grace."

"I think it's kinda cool," Willow said.

"I'll say. I wish she had extended the curse to everybody. I miss my red hair," Paige whined.

Piper laughed. She had finished the spaghetti, while Grams recounted the story, and was dishing out helpings for everybody.

As they ate Grams told stories about her youthful witch days. Willow was fascinated by her great-grandmother, and was comforted by the family she had around her. Despite wishing Tara was with her, she was having an awesome time.

Prue watched her daughter with awe. She knew in her heart that giving Willow away was the best thing for her, but it hadn't stopped her from missing her every day of her life. She always saw that beautiful redheaded baby when she closed her eyes. Every redheaded girl she saw made her think of her, and wonder if that was her baby girl. She knew know that Willow had been destined for more then the Charmed legacy. Her destiny far out weight that of their own, more so then she could even realize at that moment. Despite knowing that all, she was beyond happy the have her daughter home again. This time to stay.

Every now and again Prue would look over, and catch Paige staring at her. She thought she saw apprehension written on Paige's features. Almost like she was afraid of her, or more likely that her return would cast her to the side. She hadn't had a real chance to speak with her new baby sister, and tell her how happy she was to get the chance to know her. She would have to do that the first chance she got.

After they had finished eating, Grams scooped out enough of the un-binding potion into a cup for Willow to drink. She wanted Willow as calm as possible so she made her sit down.

Willow was still worried about what drinking that will do. Her mind immediately thinking about the worst case scenario. She felt safe with her family though, so she tossed back the silvery blue potion in one gulp, and waited.

Nothing happened.

Willow expected there to be a visible struggle for each magic to take over her body. "Did it work?" she asked.

"I don't know," Grams replied honestly.

"Well it should have worked," Piper said. "There isn't really any way for us to tell. I guess well have to…"

What ever Piper was going to say way cut of when Willow's hair and eyes turned jet black. Silver and black orbs started flowing around her. Each representing the different magic which resides inside of her. Each fighting for their dominance. None of the sister knew what to do. Their first instinct was to go to Willow, but they were stopped by Grams.

Willow was thrown backwards into the wall behind her, causing her to black out, and send out a physic shock, bringing forth two sets of orbs. A tall set and a much shorter set. Tara orbed in next to Grams, while Wyatt orbed in right next to Willow.

Wyatt didn't completely understand who the woman was despite being told by his parents, but he felt the uncontrollable need to help her. To fix her. In his young mind there was only one way he could help. To heal her, and that's what he did.

Warm light flooded from his little hands, covering Willow's chest. The fighting orbs started to flow together, creating a long grayish looking cord which flowed back into her. The black hair began to recede, replace again by her flaming red. Wyatt dropped his hands when Willow opened her eyes.

Tara, who had been stunned at the sight she had witness, dropped down beside her girlfriend, and helped her up and then looked over her should and asked, "What hell happened?" in a very un-Tara like voice.

Piper sheepishly looked to Grams, before looking back to Tara. "Too much too soon," She replied. "I'm sorry Willow. I think we should have gradually left the magic out instead of all at once."

"What happened?" Willow asked.

"Wyatt healed you. Which seemed to have helped your different magic's to intertwine," Paige answered, and then whispered to her sister's, "How did he know what to do?"

"I don't know. Hopefully this meeting will explain a few thing," Piper answered, quietly, and then turned toward her son. "Come here buddy. I bet you scared your daddy by orbing off like that. How about we go call him, and let him know your okay."

Prue kneeled in front of Willow as her sister took her nephew out of the room and she her if she was alright.

"I feel fine Prue. Really good in fact," Willow answered.

"That's great," Grams said. "That means it worked."

"Are you r-really alright, Willow?" Tara asked.

"I feel great. I promise. Isn't almost time for the meeting?"

"Oh yeah," Phoebe said. "We have to set up the crystals. Come on Willow. We'll show you how to do that. It'll be your first lesson."

A half an hour later the crystals were set up when the door bell rang. Signaling the start of the meeting.

* * *

A/N: So I'm not exactly sure how this chapter sounds, so please let me know what you think.

So It might be awhile before the next chapter. As I wrote this chapter I noticed some inconstancies in this story, which prompted me to go through and re-edit it all. Next chapter the Scoobies finally get their reward so if you have any suggestions. Now is you chance.


End file.
